Robert J. Fitzgerald University High School

The brief description located on the front cover insert labels this book as provocative. If provocative means inspiring debate and challenging existing beliefs with regards to American liberalism, the description is accurate. In The Strange Death of American Liberalism, H.W. Brands analyzes American leadership, primarily during the Cold War, in attempts to prove his thesis that it was during this period that America was at its height as a liberal nation. To understand this argument, you first have to be aware of Brands' definition of liberalism. Brands defines liberalism as being a feeling of trust in our government by the American constituency. He also notes that only during time of conflict, case in point the Cold War, do Americans replace their distrust in government with a faith that government will provide them protection both on the foreign and home fronts.

Readers of this book and those that participated in the colloquium, myself included, found humor, frustration, and intellectual stimulation in such descriptions of Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal as being a conservative movement, to Richard Nixon being the epitome of a liberal president. As far as Roosevelt is concerned, I came across a passage in Chief Justice William Rehnquist's book, The Supreme Court, which would support Brands' assertion. Rehnquist stated, "Roosevelt was not a doctrinaire liberal. Other than emergency measures taken during his first two years of office, this period was characterized by an effort to reduce federal expenditures and to balance the
budget." Whether or not Brands's assertions are true, an interesting argument is made for support of his thesis, which is supported by other historians, Rehnquist included.

An effective analysis of this book lies in the understanding of Brands's thesis; that liberalism equals a trust in government, and that that trust occurs at a maximum level only during time of conflict. Even so, it seems that important facts and events are left out, causing the reader to witness only Brands's skewed vision of our country's liberal movements. As interesting and enjoyable as the book was, 1, as did many of the other colloquium members, felt ill at ease with Brands's thesis and the facts he used to support his argument. In the preface Brands states, "The purpose of this book is to explain the demise of liberalism in terms of (the) withdrawal of popular confidence in government." His explanation of this demise is tough to swallow, but it inspires a significant amount of thought on the subject.

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