A revisionist history of American liberalism, from the Great Depression to the Cold War. In Making Liberalism New, Ian Afflerbach traces the rise, revision, and fall of a modern liberalism in the United States, establishing this intellectual culture as distinct from classical predecessors as well as the neoliberalism that came to power by century's end. Drawing on a diverse archive that includes political philosophy, legal texts, studies of moral psychology, government propaganda, and presidential campaign materials, Afflerbach also delves into works by Tess Slesinger, Richard Wright, James Agee, John Dewey, Lionel Trilling, and Vladimir Nabokov. Throughout the book, he shows how a reciprocal pattern of influence between modernist literature and liberal intellectuals helped drive the remarkable writing and rewriting of this keyword in American political life. From the 1930s into the 1960s, Afflerbach writes, modern American fiction exposed and interrogated central concerns in liberal culture, such as corporate ownership, reproductive rights, color-blind law, the tragic limits of social documentary, and the dangerous allure of a heroic style in political leaders. In response, liberal intellectuals borrowed key values from modernist culture-irony, tragedy, style-to reimagine the meaning and ambitions of American liberalism. Drawing together political theory and literary history, Making Liberalism New argues that the rise of American liberal culture helped direct the priorities of modern literature. At the same time, it explains how the ironies of narrative form offer an ideal medium for readers to examine conceptual problems in liberal thought. These problems-from the abortion debate to the scope of executive power-remain an indelible feature of American politics.
Ian Afflerbach (GAINESVILLE, GA) is an assistant professor of American literature at the University of North Georgia.
Preface: What We Talk about When We Talk about Liberalism Introduction: Making Liberalism New Part 1: A Liberal Modernism 1. Liberalism Incorporated: Intellectuals, Abortion, and the Critique of Possessive Individualism 2. Racial Liberalism: Native Son and the Problem of "Color-Blind" Law Part 2: A Modern Liberalism 3. The Inward Turn: Tragedy, Documentary, and the Making of the Postwar Liberal Imagination 4. Ending in Style: JFK, Nabokov, and the Triumph of a Liberal Aesthetic Conclusion: What's Left of Liberalism? (Or: What's So New about Neoliberalism?) Works Cited Notes Index
A revisionist history of American liberalism, from the Great Depression to the Cold War.
