Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time - Softcover

Ira Katznelson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0871407388 ISBN 13: 9780871407382

Publisher: Liveright, 2014

Synopsis

Redefining the traditional understanding of the New Deal, Fear Itself examines this pivotal American era through a sweeping international lens that juxtaposes a struggling democracy with enticing ideologies like Fascism and Communism. Ira Katznelson asserts that, during the 1930s and 1940s, American democracy was rescued yet distorted by a unified band of southern legislators who safeguarded racial segregation as they built a new national state to manage capitalism and assert global power. This study brings to life the politicians and pundits of the time, including Walter Lippmann, who argued that America needed a dose of dictatorship; Mississippi's five-foot-two Senator Theodore Bilbo, who advocated the legal separation of races; and Robert Oppenheimer, who built the atomic bomb yet was undone by the nation's hysteria. Fear Itself is a work vital to understanding America and the world the New Deal made.

About this title

Review:

"...an absorbing study that spans the period from Roosevelt's first term to the end of the Truman administration..." The Economist "Katznelson, a distinguished scholar and professor at Columbia, writes elegantly and his book easily repays the reader's attention..." Prospect "The dazzling accomplishment of Fear Itself, a career capstone work by political scientist and historian Ira Katznelson, is to cast the New Deal anew... Alive with insight Fear Itself is essential reading for those seeking to comprehend the promise and limitations of US politics, past or present." Times Higher Education "This is a beautifully measured book..." Times Literary Supplement "Ira Katznelson...has produced an excellent work of synthesis about the political and economic terms of the New Deal." Financial Times "In a saturated academic field, Katznelson's book stands out as the most original work on the New Deal to appear in many years." Financial Times "Ira Katznelson brings his enormous experience of and expertise in the history of American politics and institutions to bear on this vast subject, and his impressive command of the material shows on every page." --Reviews in History

About the Author:

Ira Katznelson is Columbia University's Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, and has served as the president of the American Political Science Association. He is the author of When Affirmative Action Was White (ISBN 978 0 393 32851 6).

About this edition

• Publisher: Liveright
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0871407388
• ISBN 13: 9780871407382
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 720