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Recent Reviews
Jan-Werner Müller
Rave Foreign Affairs ... [an] important book ... In elegant and incisive terms, the book makes clear that proponents of liberal democracy must reclaim fundamental democratic principles and values.
Vaclav Smil
Positive Foreign Affairs ... a sweeping account of the deep material forces that have shaped the modern world ... Smil has an eye for interesting details, but he is better at showing the interconnections, turning points, and pathways of societal change than in pinpointing cause and effect. Nevertheless, he tells a remarkable story of the human capacity to innovate, build, and integrate societies across vast distances.
James Traub
Positive Foreign Affairs As liberals grapple with rising populism and authoritarianism, Traub turns to history and theory to reclaim liberalism’s principles. His book mounts one of the best efforts of this kind yet, tracing liberalism’s core ideas from the age of democratic revolutions to the grand ideological struggles of the twentieth century to the convulsions of the current vexed moment. Traub shows that liberalism is an amalgam of often conflicting ideas: classical republican principles, Lockean individualism, the commitment to popular sovereignty, and evolving notions of rights and progressive social ideals.
Joshua Muravchik
Mixed Foreign Affairs An engaging narrative of the twists and turns in socialism\'s history with a focus on the individuals who invented, popularized, redefined, and exploited socialism across the eras ... In the end, the book\'s focus on colorful individuals provides interesting reading, but it fails to deliver a satisfactory account of how ideas, individuals, industrial capitalism, and world historical forces combined to produce socialism\'s great drama. Nor is there any effort to explore its lasting legacies or offer lessons for modern-day ideological movements.
Helena Rosenblatt
Positive Foreign Affairs In this lively and penetrating book, Rosenblatt offers an intellectual history of the term [liberalism], from its roots in Roman notions of civic duty and public morality down to its modern use ... She also challenges the traditional narrative of liberalism as an Anglo-American project ... Rosenblatt shows that liberalism has survived thanks to its appeal as a moral ideal, a vision of political community that is based not just on interests but also on values: respect, tolerance, and justice.