A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice A most anticipated book of 2022 at Vulture and Kirkus Reviews A leading historian tells the story of the United States’ most enduring political party and its long, imperfect, and newly invigorated quest for “moral capitalism,” from Andrew Jackson to Joseph Biden. The Democratic Party is the world’s oldest mass political organization. But what has the party stood for through the centuries, and how has it managed to succeed in elections and govern? In What It Took to Win , the eminent historian Michael Kazin tells the story of the party’s longtime commitment to promoting “moral capitalism,” a system that mixes entrepreneurial freedom with the welfare of workers. Yet the party that championed the rights of the white working man also vigorously protected or furthered the causes of slavery, segregation, and Native American removal. With its evolution toward a more inclusive, egalitarian vision, the party won durable victories for Americans of all backgrounds. But it has also struggled to hold together a majority coalition and advance a persuasive agenda. Kazin traces the party’s fortunes through vivid character sketches of its key thinkers and doers, from William Jennings Bryan to Eleanor Roosevelt to Barack Obama. Throughout, Kazin reveals the rich interplay of personality, belief, strategy, and policy that defines the life of the Democratic Party and outlines the core components of a political legacy that President Joe Biden and his co-partisans rely on today as they seek to revitalize the American political experiment.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Forgotten Man and Coolidge offers a stunning revision of our last great period of idealism, the 1960s, with burning relevance for our contemporary challenges. "Great Society is accurate history that reads like a novel, covering the high hopes and catastrophic missteps of our well-meaning leaders." --Alan Greenspan Today, a battle rages in our country. Many Americans are attracted to socialism and economic redistribution while opponents of those ideas argue for purer capitalism. In the 1960s, Americans sought the same goals many seek now: an end to poverty, higher standards of living for the middle class, a better environment and more access to health care and education. Then, too, we debated socialism and capitalism, public sector reform versus private sector advancement. Time and again, whether under John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, or Richard Nixon, the country chose the public sector. Yet the targets of our idealism proved elusive. What's more, Johnson's and Nixon's programs shackled millions of families in permanent government dependence. Ironically, Shlaes argues, the costs of entitlement commitments made a half century ago preclude the very reforms that Americans will need in coming decades. In Great Society, Shlaes offers a powerful companion to her legendary history of the 1930s, The Forgotten Man, and shows that in fact there was scant difference between two presidents we consider opposites: Johnson and Nixon. Just as technocratic military planning by "the Best and the Brightest" made failure in Vietnam inevitable, so planning by a team of the domestic best and brightest guaranteed fiasco at home. At once history and biography, Great Society sketches moving portraits of the characters in this transformative period, from U.S. Presidents to the visionary UAW leader Walter Reuther, the founders of Intel, and Federal Reserve chairmen William McChesney Martin and Arthur Burns. Great Society casts new light on other figures too, from Ronald Reagan, then governor of California, to the socialist Michael Harrington and the protest movement leader Tom Hayden. Drawing on her classic economic expertise and deep historical knowledge, Shlaes upends the traditional narrative of the era, providing a damning indictment of the consequences of thoughtless idealism with striking relevance for today. Great Society captures a dramatic contest with lessons both dark and bright for our own time.

Mid-twentieth-century capitalism has turned into global capitalism, and global capitalism - turbocharged, Web-based, and able to find and make almost anything just about anywhere - has turned into supercapitalism. But as Robert B. Reich makes clear in this eye-opening book, while supercapitalism is working wonderfully well to enlarge the economic pie, democracy - charged with caring for all citizens - is becoming less and less effective under its influence. Reich explains how widening inequalities of income and wealth, heightened job insecurity, and the spreading effects of global warming are the logical outcomes of supercapitalism. He shows us why companies, fighting harder than ever to maintain their competitive positions, have become even more deeply involved in politics; and how average citizens, seeking great deals and invested in the stock market to an unprecedented degree, are increasingly loath to stand by their values if it means biting the hands that feed them. As one of America's most influential voices, Reich sets out a clear course to a vibrant capitalism and a concurrent, equally vibrant democracy.

DYLAN RATIGAN’S mission is to uncover never-before-seen solutions to the most pressing issues of our time: government corruption, corporate communism, an ailing health care system, an age-old dependency on foreign oil, and a broken educational system. In this groundbreaking book, Ratigan makes a case that America has the opportunity to prosper, but only by setting clear goals. Ratigan believes that this country, now more than ever, needs passionate debate and smart policy, a brazen willingness to scrap what doesn’t work, and the entrepreneurial spirit to try what does. Ratigan has compiled brash and fresh solutions for building a new and better America, and with this book he has started the debate America deserves.

Earlier this year, 2012, I published a book with Ishi Press entitled, Ron Paul for President in 2012: Yes to Ron Paul and Liberty. That book title has been overtaken by the press of events. I write, now, on August 31, 2012, and Mitt Romney has just been chosen as the standard bearer for the GOP in the upcoming November election. I persist in believing that had the Republican Party played fair, to say nothing of the mainstream media, Dr. Paul might have had a real chance to beat Governor Romney for that nomination. If Paul had won the GOP nomination, I still maintain that the Congressman from Texas would have easily overwhelmed President Barack Obama in the fall vote. Recent head to head surveys between the two resulted in a dead heat. My thought is that when the Obama voters realize that Paul stands with them on peace, on legalization of drugs, on opposition to bail outs to those to the fat cat crony capitalists who are “too big to fail,” on the closure of Guantanamo, on personal liberties, there would not have been much of a contest between the two of them. But this is not to be. So, I am coming out with another book, exactly like the previous one, except for this preface to what might be considered the second edition of that publication, and also except for the change in title. This new book is now entitled: Yes to Ron Paul and Liberty. Did Ron Paul fail in his presidential bid? When the Republican primaries began, these were the candidates: Michele Bachman, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, John Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Perry, Buddy Roemer, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. Guess who, after a long grueling contest, were the last two standing? Despite the fact that Ron Paul was the last one to leave the race, obviously, yes, he “failed.” He received more votes from Democrats and Independents than any other person in the primary race, and more financial contributions from members of our armed forces, but Dr. Ron Paul will still not be on the November ballot. So why publish this “new” book? Because our beloved rEVOLution goes on. Ron Paul will continue to expose millions of Americans, and billions of people all around the world, to the evils of imperialistic war-mongering, to the mischief of the Federal Reserve System, to the benefits of true free market capitalism. He will again and again make the case in favor of Austrian economics, the gold standard and private property rights. He will demonstrate, again and again and yet again, the evils of the National Defense Authorization Ac, of murdering American citizens without a trial, of water boarding, of indefinite detention. He will defend whistle blowers such as Bradley Manning and Julian Assange. He will make the case that the war on drugs is no more justified, nor pragmatic, than alcohol prohibition. He will make the case that American troops in 900 foreign military bases in some 140 different countries does not at all constitute “defense”; that had any other country done anything like this, we would all see it for the imperialism that it really is. He will convince people that the best course of action is to “legalize freedom.”