Introduction: Speaking for the People 1. Inheritance 2. The Righteous Commonwealth of the Late Nineteenth Century 3. Workers as Citizens: Labor and the Left in the Gompers Era 4. Onward, Christian Mothers and Soldiers: The Prohibitionist Crusade 5. Social Justice and Social Paranoia: The Catholic Populism of Father Coughlin 6. The Many and the Few: The CIO and the Embrace of Liberalism 7. A Free People Fight Back: The Rise and Fall of the Cold War Right 8. Power to Which People? The Tragedy of the White New Left 9. Stand Up for the Working Man: George Wallace and the Making of a New Right 10. The Conservative Capture: From Nixon to Reagan 11. Spinning the People Conclusion: A Language We Need? A Note on Method Notes Further Reading Index
Michael Kazin is Professor of History at Georgetown University and coeditor ofDissent. His many books includeWar Against War, American Dreamers, and A Godly Hero.
"Michael Kazin enables us to begin to understand the way in which populism has changed from a politics of the left to a politics of the right. The important questions raised by the success of the populist right in the United States are illuminated in Kazin's splendid and timely book."-The Nation "Kazin shows populism's canny ability to mix homespun rhetoric and political savvy... The book explains something very important in American life with scrupulous fairness and a keen eye for the humanizing detail. It is as good a road map as we have to the politics of the people who work hard and play by the rules."-Wall Street Journal "A perceptive and passionately liberal book... Beginning with the antislavery crusade of the 1840s, Kazin skillfully surveys more than a century of mass protests, using imagery and symbolism as his guides."-New York Times
"Michael Kazin enables us to begin to understand the way in which populism has changed from a politics of the left to a politics of the right. The important questions raised by the success of the populist right in the United States are illuminated in Kazin's splendid and timely book."-The Nation "Kazin shows populism's canny ability to mix homespun rhetoric and political savvy... The book explains something very important in American life with scrupulous fairness and a keen eye for the humanizing detail. It is as good a road map as we have to the politics of the people who work hard and play by the rules."-Wall Street Journal "A perceptive and passionately liberal book... Beginning with the antislavery crusade of the 1840s, Kazin skillfully surveys more than a century of mass protests, using imagery and symbolism as his guides."-New York Times
Kazin (history, American Univ.) has written a thoughtful and important book on one of the more consequential movements in American politics-populism. Tracing the emergence of populist campaigns from the 19th century to the present day, he looks at such movements as the labor movement, the prohibitionist crusade, Catholic radio populist Father Coughlin, the New Left, and the recent advance of conservative populism, as identified with such figures as George Wallace and Ronald Reagan. Kazin opens by saying, "I began to write this book as a way of making sense of a painful experience: the decline of the American Left, including its liberal component, and the rise of the Right." Anyone interested in either political tendency will find this book both informative and engaging. It is a powerful, elegantly written, and observant study that never fails to retain the reader's interest. The book's one major flaw is its naïve and overly sanguine treatment of the American Communist Party. Its major selling point is its suggestive analysis of right-wing populism. Recommended for all collections.-Kent Worcester, Social Science Research Council, New York
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