|
Title: The Conscience of a Liberal
Purchase
Item
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
List Price: $25.95
Our Price: $13.10
|
|
| Customer Reviews: |
| The Conscience of a Liberal by W. W. Norton Dishonoring the greatest liberal of our time |
| I am absolutely in complete shock that Mr. Krugman decided to use the title of the book from the late great senator Paul Wellstone. Particularly the fact that the senator has since passed away and that The Conscience of a Liberal is part of his legacy shows a lack of respect, intelligence and originality. I had to stop in the bookstore and take a second look because I couldn't believe that anybody within liberal circles would have the audacity to do something so tacky and self serving. Shame on you Mr. Krugman. I hope others boycott this book and choose to read the real Conscience of a Liberal. |
| The Conscience of a Liberal by W. W. Norton Thoroughly enjoyed this |
I listen to audio CD's a lot, and I really appreciate a competent reader. Jason Culp (the reader) does a very nice job. It helps that the material is written in a very well laid out manner with an easy style.
Krugman is extremely convincing. His explanations of the "gilded age", "the compression", the factors which allowed the compression to unravel, and the meanings of neo-conservatism are as clear and reasoned as I've heard. |
| The Conscience of a Liberal by W. W. Norton Well-researched and illuminating |
| A must-read before the next election, this book puts the neoconservative movement in historical perspective and argues persuasively for a more progressive domestic agenda. |
| The Conscience of a Liberal by W. W. Norton Excellent |
Silly me, as much as I've liked Paul Krugman's commentary in the _New York Times_ I didn't know until right before reading his book that hs is an economist. Economics has always been a subject I've been too timid to tackle, but Krugman writes so clearly that I can understand what he has to sayl
In this wonderful book, he explains the political economy of the US since what he calles the "Long Gilded Age" which extends to the Great Depression. He makes some fascinating points, all of which he backs up with research.
1) Income inequality is as high now as it was in the Long Gilded Age.
2) The middle class America that he and many of us grew up in did not come about naturally by the maturation of the economy, but was created by the New Deal policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
3) During the time of the strength of the middle class, bipartisanship was much more in evidence.
4) Movement conservatives have polarized the country by moving away from bipartisanship... the shift has not come from the Democrats moving farther left, but almost completely by the GOP moving sharply to the right.
5) Movement conservatives have tried to roll back the New Deal, and have succeeded in many ways, leading to new high levels of income inequality.
6) Income inequality leads inevitably to a lessening of democracy.
7) Issues of race played a key part in the success of movement conservatism.
8) Movement conservatism has taken over the Republican Party so that there are few non-movement conservatives left. They have been so successful because they have proved able to win elections.
Krugman sees reason to hope. Movement conservatism has become less attractive because it is rife with croneyism,, which leads to incompetence. Race is becoming less a factor as the country becomes more tolerant.
So Krugman asks what progressives should do now to increase democracy and lessen the effects of income inequality. He suggests the first step is to complete the New Deal by providing guaranteed universal health care. He then does a masterful job of explaining why the US health care system is no better than most others but costs so much more, and what it would take to fix it.
Despite all the belief that in America anyone can climb high, he shows that there is strong inequality of opportunity in the US, and he talks about ways of improving that.
Overall, the book is an excellent history of the US political economy since the 1920s, and a call to action by liberals to pursue policies to increase democracy and equality for all Americans.
|
| The Conscience of a Liberal by W. W. Norton A great book |
| This is the best book I have ever read about liberal policies. This is an in-depth look at the history of our country, and what liberals have brought about: an unparalled era of great prosperity. A must read for every Democrat, independent and liberal in America. |
| The Conscience of a Liberal by W. W. Norton Product Description |
This wholly original new work by the best-selling author of The Great Unraveling challenges America to reclaim the values that made it great.
With this major new volume, Paul Krugman, today's most widely read economist, studies the past eighty years of American history, from the reforms that tamed the harsh inequality of the Gilded Age to the unraveling of that achievement and the reemergence of immense economic and political inequality since the 1970s. Seeking to understand both what happened to middle-class America and what it will take to achieve a "new New Deal," Krugman has created his finest book to date, a work that weaves together a nuanced account of three generations of history with sharp political, social, and economic analysis. This book, written with Krugman's trademark ability to explain complex issues simply, will transform the debate about American social policy in much the same way as did John Kenneth Galbraith's deeply influential book, The Affluent Society. |
