The Death and Rebirth of American Radicalism

In "The Death and Rebirth of American Radicalism," Stanley Aronowitz asks the question, "Is there anything left of the Left?" With the rise of Newt Gingrich and his "Contract With America," how is it that conservativism staged such a remarkable recovery after being discounted in the turbulent 1960s? Aronowitz addresses these and other burning issues of contemporary politics.
Beginning with a broad analysis of the historical left, he examines such aspects as popular movements for social justice, cultural radicalism, the New Left-including the author's memoir of the Sixties, and postmodern radicalism. "The Death and Rebirth of American Radicalism" sharply differentiates the "Social Justice Left" from "Cultural Radicalism" and the various movements for "rights" that evolved from the New Left movements of the Sixites. Aronowitz's point of view is truly unique in that he does not assert that the Left is in trouble because it "lost" the culture and political wars of previous decades. Instead, he argues that the next Left must envision not merely more equality or opportunity, but develop a "radical" "democratic" movement that seeks a solution to the economic, political and cultural crisis of our time.