Can I read If I had a hammer : the death of the old left and the birth of the new left on EtoBox?

If I had a hammer : the death of the old left and the birth of the new left by MAURICE ISSERMAN is a history book available to read on EtoBox.

What is If I had a hammer : the death of the old left and the birth of the new left about?

If I Had a Hammer unearths the roots of the counter-culture and political radicalism of the 60s, and shatters the myth of the 50s as a decade of deadening conformity. For the 'Old Left,' the 50s were indeed a decade of defeat and disillusionment, as Maurice Isserman demonstrates through incisive and poignant portraits of aging radicals, including Irving Howe, Norman Thomas, and A. J. Muste. But defeat also compelled a reexamination of cherished beliefs, like the myth of the revolutionary proletariat, and facing up to new political realities, like the domestic consequences of the Cold War. Old dogmas were discarded along with old dreams. Professor Isserman challenges the current notion that the radicalism of the 60s was mere psychological aberration. He also dispels a favorite illusion of the 'New Left' itself--that it was borne by immaculate conception without ties to a 'Old Left' it pointedly repudiated. Ironically, the 'New Left' drew lessons from its predecessor never intended by the 'Old Left,' while it repeated mistakes it found unforgivable in the parent it disowned. If I Had a Hammer calls into question our favored assumptions about this pregnant moment in American history.

Who reads If I had a hammer : the death of the old left and the birth of the new left?

Author

MAURICE ISSERMAN

Publisher

Urbana: University of Illinois Press

Published

1987

Language

EN

ISBN

9780252063381

Category

history

Subjects

Education, Social Science, Fiction

Rating

3.97 / 5 (27 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14