Intellectuals in Action: The Origins of the New Left and Radical Liberalism, 1945-1970 [Paperback]

Kevin Mattson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

Looking at the ideas that informed the protest, social movements and activism of the 1960s, this text combines traditional intellectual biography with social history to examine a group of intellectuals whose thinking was crucial in the formulation of New Left political theory.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Historian Mattson (Creating a Democratic Public) breaks new ground with this informative and revealing study of the American New Left's intellectual roots. In separate chapters, he examines the philosophical and political contributions to the New Left of five people: Dwight McDonald, C. Wright Mills, Paul Goodman, William Appleton Williams, and Arnold Kaufman. The book's preface discusses McDonald's writings after he left the Communist Party in the 1940s and especially his ideas on pacifism, "radical individualism," and "communitarian anarchism." Against this backdrop, Mattson analyzes the thought and political actions of Mills, Goodman, Williams, and Kaufman, all of whom were instrumental in starting up New Left political action movements, such as the Vietnam War protest demonstrations, the university teach-in movement, and the formation of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society). All four, however, were repelled by the gratuitous confrontational tactics SDS and similar groups adopted, and eventually they disassociated themselves from their own creations. In the last two chapters, Mattson outlines the decline and demise of the New Left as a political movement, but he expresses a hope that the New Left's main ideas will once again take root in "a viable democratic left," although he offers little explanation of how this will happen. Recommended for large public libraries and specialized collections. Jack Forman, San Diego Mesa Coll. Lib., San Diego, CA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Kevin Mattson is Associate Professor of American History at Ohio University. His previous book, Creating a Democratic Public: The Struggle for Urban Participatory Democracy During the Progressive Era (1998), is also available from Penn State Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 305 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 027102206X
• ISBN-13: 978-0271022062
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,026,852 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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