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Deconstructing the Left: From Vietnam to the Clinton Era

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Horowitz and Collier sure know how to bash their old friends from the Sixties. But after reading their account of the Old and New Left, one can hardly blame them. It would seem that most of the Left failed to learn anything from the Vietnam War and gleaned even less from the collapse of socialism. H&C describe how the Left of the Sixties was really about radical change, namely abolishing the American "System" (i.e. capitalism) and replacing it with a socialist utopia. C&H demonstrate that the Left may have changed it's name when it realized that Stalin's socialist utopia murdered millions and when America lost the war in Vietnam, but it's still driven by anti-Americanism and pro-Socialism. And little has changed even after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. C&H would appear to be onto something when they suggest that the Left never re-evaluates their positions and is therefore doomed to repeat history. Over the years, the Left has remained focused on the illusion of a peaceful utopia even while the Right has discredited it in theory and history has now discredited it in practice. Perhaps it is arrogance or a refusal to admit a mistake. Or perhaps it is really true that the Left is so enamored with socialism that it is unable to examine it objectively. A pretty hard-hitting book that is sure to piss off those that failed to re-evaluate their Leftism after the "glory days" of the Sixties.