"An interesting book, handsomely written, and closely researched." -
The Weekly Standard
"Massively researched. . . . Sandbrook is effective in conveying the sense of a wasted talent." -
The Nation
"Dominic Sandbrook's subtle, intelligent portrait gives us Gene McCarthy in all his enigmatic brilliance. . . . At a time when so much political history comes to us as scandal and gossip, this absorbing book reminds us where the drama of politics really begins-in the tensions between idealism and compromise, intellect and passion, knowledge and delusion." -Sam Tanenhaus, author of
Whittaker Chambers "McCarthy has lacked a full-scale biography; now, thanks to a young British historian, Dominic Sandbrook, he has a very good one. . . . Sandbrook brings both McCarthy and American liberalism alive. . . . A stunning achievement."
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History Book Club Review (Editors' choice)
"Highly readable. . . . Captures all of the drama and historical significance of both McCarthy the man and the political era that he helped define." -
Tucson Citizen
"A consummate political biography. Dominic Sandbrook insightfully probes Eugene McCarthy's complex role in the decay of American liberalism. Avoiding nostalgia, he writes with an incisive and compelling honesty. . . . A sobering story in vivid prose, rich in nuance." -Alan Taylor, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
William Cooper's Town
"Sandbrook's biography will command attention and spark discussion about this controversial career and McCarthy's role in the end of the New Deal liberal consensus."
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Publishers Weekly
"Illuminating. . . . Sandbrook is especially good at describing how McCarthy's Catholicism formed his political visionÉ. Scholarly, scrupulously researched." -
Library Journal "This incisive account of the career both of postwar liberalism and of one of its most romantic standard-bearers reads like the anatomy of a lost cause --lost thanks not only to ideological choices but to the all-too-human attributes of arrogance, self-absorption and spite. An invaluable book for liberals who want to understand how they got where they are." -James Traub, contributing writer for
The New York Times Magazine
Born in Shropshire in 1974, Dominic Sandbrook studied history and modern languages at Oxford University. He has a master's degree from the University of St. Andrews and a doctorate from Cambridge University. He taught American history at the University of Sheffield from 2001 to 2004, and has held a Senior Fellowship at the Rothermere American Institute, Oxford. He is the author of Never Had It So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles, and lives in London.