The Populist Persuasion: An American History

I chose this book because I wanted to know what populism is. Everyone talks about it saying that people with R's and D's behind their names are both populist. I was confused. So, I chose this book. I didn't know quite what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I got in this book. In the introduction, the author describes himself as a member of the "non-communist left." I was glad to see his honesty in identifying this. It was obvious but not pervasive throughout the book-especially toward the end. This hardcore libertarian did NOT choke on left-wing propaganda. I credit the author for TRYING to be objective about left vs. right issues. (Notice I say try) At times, he gets a little wordy and digresses. I got SO tired of the word "erstwhile" - the next time I read it, I think I will scream. The book is written on the scholarly level, but is not overbearingly pedantic. One thing that I did NOT count on in this book was the good dose of American history I got. Of course the history was needed for background purposes-but I still didn't expect it. I'm always pleased when I get something I didn't expect. Overall, this book is well written. It is worth the read. I knocked off a star not because of any DE-merit. For me, it just didn't evoke the passion or enthusiasm that a 5-star book does. I walked away completely satisfied-but not blown away. I will certainly look for this author's other works.

Kazin extends his masterful understanding of the mental world of Gilded Age America, following the populist approach all the way to the Reagan era and beyond. For my money, I'd be happier if he had also placed more context around the rise of populism; after all, is not the idea of liberal democracy itself poulist, on some level? But he starts with what he knows best- the mental space occupied by William Jenning Bryan and those who understood his appeal. (Kazin knows Bryan well; I consider his biography the best of breed.) The Populist Persuasion attempts to show that political populism is not just a movement of farmers and workers in the Gilded Age, but rather it is a way of seeing social and economic issues and offering a solution that addresses the needs of the amorphous "people." As such, it is a political persuasion that survives its initial application and lends itself to the needs of (among others) the socially conscious Christian, the labor organizer, and the new-left activist. This is useful, but as historical analysis it is inherently imprecise, after the manner of compelling political synthesis. I do wish he or his editor had not attached the subtitle "An American History." It is not near that much of a synthesis, and it would have been much weaker if it were. It is a study that describes and extends populism IN American history into the recent past. Kazin elsewhere acknowledges his personal secular liberal bias, and indeed it results in one of the few tenuous moments in the book when he portrays populism's "capture" at the hands of the modern political right. His critique is measured and fair, I think, but the viewpoint from which he writes is evident. Fair enough. Kazin has a rare gift for making this kind of mental exercise clear and accessible without oversimplifying. He is a gifted historical writer, and this is a fine example of his craft. I like the book well enough that it is a required case-study for my US political history survey. High praise.

THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY. DON'T LET THE BIG MEN TAKE IT AWAY FROM YOU. This quote, taken from the introduction to chapter 5 of Michael Kazin's book, epitomizes the spirit of the people and their "persuaders" in The Populist Persuasion. This work traces the uses of populist language from the antebellum era through the 1990s. It is the story of populism, not Populism (as in exclusively the 1890s movement), a flexible mode of persuasion used to convince large numbers of people to join a social and political movement. It is, as the previous reviewer lamented, a rhetorical style, not an ideology at all. The author does not take this lightly. He stresses that populism must be taken seriously and especially admonishes Democratic leaders for allowing it to be co-opted by conservatives. Populism "leaps ideological boundaries" (193), and that,as much as anything, is the lasting lesson of this provocative book. This is a strong work, examining many popular movements, which prima facie, have little to do with each other. This is a fresh interpretation, not so much an examination of new historical sources. The author explains the central term as follows: "populism can be and probably must be a potent means to the end of a more democratic polity...but it can't be the end itself." It has been used over the years to manipulate the public into action, and according to Kazin, often action adverse to their own interests. I recommend this book to anyone interested in political analysis or the history of mass movements. Kazin admits to regret that populism came to be better exploited by the right than the left since WWII, but that does not mean that this book is biased. The only problem I can see is with what's included and excluded. With such a broadly defined "impulse," almost any movement could be labeled "populist." Even though Kazin is a "power to the people" leftist who decries the decline of the American left, this book is fair and balanced. I'm not sure he'd like that "FOX-like" moniker, though!

Kazin's book is really a history of populist rhetoric, not populism per se. Thus, the title, the Populist PERSUASION! Thankfully, Kazin does not ridicule populism as RICHARD HOFSTADTER did in his book, The Age of Reform. But Kazin still relies too heavily on the urbane cosmopolitan view of most liberals that populism is more a style of rhetoric to appeal to the uneducated rubes than a coherent set of political ideas or reforms. Real populism more then an rhetorical style! It was a political movement of common people to control their own lives within a democratic market system with specific objectives like the crop banks and the sub-treasury plan. The Farmer-Laborer Alliances of the late 19th Century, and the People's Party that resulted, always referred to their reform movement as 'cooperation', not socialism. They were largely inspired by ideas of Thomas Jefferson, and the founding fathers. In this context, populism should be viewed as a struggle between democratic capitalism vs. speculative and monopoly capitalism, not a style of political rhetoric. For an understanding of Populist reforms and political agenda, one would be better served by LAWERENCE GOODWYN's book, The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America. That is not to say that Kazin's book is not an important book. To the best of my knowledge, Kazin is the only book to documented the 20th Century abandonment of populist impulses to the anti-semitism of Father Caughlin, and after the culture wars of the 60's, and the identity politics of the 70's to the likes of George Wallace and Rush Limbaugh. As such, it is a valuable political history that does much to explain our modern "Blue/Red State" deadlock then more recent books, like Thomas Franks' What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America, or John Sperling's The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro America.