What's Left?: Radical Politics and the Radical Psyche (Paperback)

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Review

"This is an insider's view, and it is a devastating indictment of radical pseudo politics..." -- William Leiss, author of 'The Domination of Nature'

Product Description

'What's Left?' is at once a mocking critique of Western radicalism and an attempt to redeem the left from the embarrassment it has brought on itself. The author shows how the confusion among political activists of political success with personal growth produces a convoluted egotism: "The sin of the left was not the impurity of its altruism but the dishonesty of its selfishness". Yet Neumann also argues that left-wing politics is essential to social progress: "Radicalism has been absurdly misused, but to reject it on those grounds is like rejecting cars because of the way twelve year olds drive them."

Product Details

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: UTP Higher Education; 1 edition (July 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0921149220
• ISBN-13: 978-0921149224
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,191,199 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not many books in this genre--a leftist critique of the left , September 21, 2005

By	crown - See all my reviews

Michael Neumann is a dedicated leftist here offering a detailed critique of the radical left. For my money he's dead on, indicting radicals for their addiction to the adrenaline rush of self-righteous feelings, as opposed to the much more difficult task of actually changing things. But I have two caveats: first, the audience for this book will probably never be large, since you have to first have been exposed to enough serious (i.e., usually academic) leftism to know the terminology and concepts from Hegel to Marcuse, in order to appreciate much of Neumann's argument; second, this book was published in 1988, when the Reagan/Bush ascendancy looked as if it were at its height. Little did we know. And in response to more recent developments...the radical left has gotten more smug and even weaker. Yeesh.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just about a Classic, January 24, 2009

By	GlobalChangeSupercenter5 "Globalchangesuperce... (Salem, NY United States) - See all my reviews

At least the 80's were good for something - this is written with real fervor, with the kind of intellectual panache that is all the greater for seeming to have been ignored. Neumann's work in this slim volume needs to be read by every would-be leftist, and then worried about over morning coffee. Social theory as "useless" - enduring brilliance that needs no updating, since western political culture seems frozen since the Neumann-derided sixties. Of course, no one is going to pay 45.00 for a 1988 paperback, so this review is self-congratulation, though the good professor deserved the Left Nobel for this youthful work.