In his second paragraph, Ellis quickly points out that he is a lifelong Democrat, a "card-carrying member" of the ACLU, an environmentalist, a supporter of women's rights and a federalist. If it seems rather defensive, that is, in some way, the point of his book. Here, Ellis (American Political Cultures) offers a provocative critique of left-wing movements from 19th-century utopians to abolitionists to the old left of the inter-war era, to the New Left of the Vietnam era and, finally, to contemporary radical feminists like Catharine MacKinnon and certain environmental activists. Through an examination of speeches, books and articles, Ellis tries to document how varied ideologues abandoned their egalitarian principles in favor of rigid political correctness, sometimes slipping into violence and elitism. At root, Ellis sees a tendency to romanticize "the People"?"those powerful, natural persons whose heroism needs no drug of fame or applause to enable them to continue: those humble, mighty parts of the mass," to quote American Communist Michael Gold?while, to quote Gold again, denigrating "the simple souls who save their money, plod to offices, and plan college careers for their children." This is a largely academic study that attempts to lump in Walt Whitman and Tom Hayden with various extremists. The problem is Ellis's arguments often tend to be as reductionist and simplistic as the radical rhetoric he criticizes.
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"Richard J. Ellis is a liberal who acknowledges a certain amount of discomfort writing a book that is critical of the left. He nonetheless does a good--often devastating--job of it." -- Washington Times
From the Back Cover
"A courageous book that examines how some of the illusions and mystiques of the radical left have become axioms in the academic world today."--John Patrick Diggins, author of
The Lost Soul of American Politics "I am impressed with the utter nerve of Ellis taking on so many sacred cows. He piles evidence upon evidence while telling a lively tale. I can't imagine how anyone could make a better case."--Robert Booth Fowler, author of The Dance with Community: The Contemporary Debate in American Political Thought
"The writing is crisp, the illustration and documentation thorough, and the whole 'shape' of the argument impressive. A splendid book!"--John L. Thomas, author of Alternative America
"The book is well written, energetic, quotable."--Lewis Perry, author of Boats against the Current: American Culture between Revolution and Modernity
About the Author
Richard J. Ellis is the Mark O. Hatfield Professor of Politics and chair of the politics department at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. His previous books include Presidential Lightning Rods: The Politics of Blame Avoidance, also published by Kansas, and American Political Cultures.
From The Washington Post
"Ellis's book, readable and scholarly and lovingly published, opens many doors."
