The Book That Changed How I Think About Liberalism

About this episode

Ezra Klein discusses the history of liberalism with guest Helena Rosenblatt, exploring its values and relevance in the current political climate.

In the U.S., illiberalism is in power. I don’t think anybody really argues against that. But I’ve been surprised by how weak liberalism has felt in response. Donald Trump isn’t a popular president; he isn’t making people want more of what he is. But if the forces of illiberalism are really going to be turned back in this country, I think more people need to be excited and inspired by liberalism itself. We need a liberalism that stands for more than “not Trump.” So I’ve been on my own esoteric journey, reading a lot of books on the history of liberalism, trying to understand what excited and inspired people in the past, and how liberals overcame crises like the one we’re in. And reading one of those books, “The Lost History of Liberalism” by Helena Rosenblatt, it felt like an epiphany — that this was a piece of the puzzle. So I wanted to have Rosenblatt on the show to talk about it. Rosenblatt is a professor of history, political science and French at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and in this conversation, she walks me through the history of liberalism that she uncovered, and the values that once lived at its heart. Mentioned: Democracy in America by…

People in this episode

Host: Ezra Klein

Guest: Helena Rosenblatt

Topics covered

• liberalism
• illiberalism
• political history
• inspiration
• crisis response

Keywords

• liberalism
• illiberalism
• Donald Trump
• political history
• Helena Rosenblatt

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Books & works: The Lost History of Liberalism, Democracy in America, Liberalism, Liberalism against Itself, Liberalism as a Way of Life, Thinking With Machines

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