Triumph Of Conservatism

A radically new interpretation of the Progressive Era which argues that business leaders, and not the reformers, inspired the era’s legislation regarding business.

Jules Tygiel's biography of Ronald Reagan engages students with the compelling story of the man who went from Hollywood actor to President of the United States. This balanced profile considers both the accomplishments and failures of Reagan's presidency, as well as the contested legacy of his political career even after his death. Incorporating the latest scholarship, Ronald Reagan and the Triumph of American Conservatism examines Reagan both as an individual and in the larger context of the conservative movement. The titles in the Library of American Biography Series make ideal supplements for American History Survey courses or other courses in American history where figures in history are explored. Paperback, brief, and inexpensive, each interpretative biography in this series focuses on a figure whose actions and ideas significantly influenced the course of American history and national life. In addition, each biography relates the life of its subject to the broader themes and developments of the times.

In this, the first book to deal exclusively with conservative politics in California, author Kurt Schuparra pinpoints the myriad factors that led to the formation and rise of the conservative movement in California after World War II, culminating in the election of Ronald Reagan as governor in 1966. While Schuparra is concerned with prominent figures such as Ronald Reagan, California senator William Knowland, Richard Nixon, and Arizona senator Barry Goldwater, his larger interest is in the principal players in the movement behind these individuals, the causes they espoused, and the movement's role in pivotal electoral contests. Schuparra also provides an assessment of how the struggle between liberals and conservatives - and those caught in the middle - in the Golden State both reflected and influenced the national debate over major governmental policies and social issues, particularly on racial matters.

A history of conservative politics in California beginning with the post-World War II scene, through the 1958 Knowland campaign, the Nixon and Goldwater campaigns, to the election of Ronald Reagan as governor in 1966. This study makes use of newspapers, oral history archives and interviews.

This work on the decline of French radicalism was conceived after the fall of the Berlin Wall as an essay on the decline and decay of the revolutionary idea in European politics. The theme provided an organizing principle for Roger Kaplan's analysis of the evolution of the French left in the wake of events for which it was politically and intellectually unprepared. Kaplan provides a basis for understanding the performance of a French socialist regime in power, one more uncertain of its mission than at any other time in its history. The paradox of French radicalism is that when it was out of office, it was quite certain about its mission. When it attained power, it lost its sense of mission, and hence its confidence as to the proper uses of power. "Conservative Socialism" for Kaplan is not simply an invention of the Mitterand Era, but an ideology rooted in French history. Unwilling or unable to embrace the social democratic idea of the "third way," French socialism became a force to conserve particularism in French culture and nationalism in its foreign policies. While socialism had long become a force to inhibit the rise of capitalism and freedom in France, the decline of its radicalism was inevitable. This is because in a country as conservative as France it was necessary for socialists and their assorted allies, to project a conservative image to be trusted. In France, the Left has abandoned the idea of radicalism so as to exercise power. Kaplan's unique and imaginative reading of French political history will have a profound effect on how that nation is perceived in this new epoch of the European Union. He argues persuasively and fairly that the French Left is alive if not well. The Left rose to power in France despite its policy failures, embarrassments, because it transcended the "end" to which its political dogma would have consigned it. Conservative Socialism will have a stunning impact on how political theorists view political developments in France and Europe.