First published in 1952 then out of print in recent years, this classic account of the American Left is once again available. In his introduction to the Cornell paperback edition, Michael Kazin reevaluates the book, viewing it in the context of subsequent work on the subject and of the recent history of the Left itself.

First published in 1952, this work is widely considered a classic account of the American Left. In his introduction to this Cornell paperback edition, Michael Kazin reevaluates the book, viewing it in the context of subsequent work on the subject and of the recent history of the Left itself.

First published in 1952, this work is widely considered a classic account of the American Left. In his introduction to this Cornell paperback edition, Michael Kazin reevaluates the book, viewing it in the context of subsequent work on the subject and of the recent history of the Left itself.

Why socialism has failed to play a significant role in the United States - the most developed capitalist industrial society and hence, ostensibly, fertile ground for socialism - has been a critical question of American history and political development. This study surveys the various explanations for this phenomenon of American political exceptionalism.

Why was Oklahoma, of all places, more hospitable to socialism than any other state in America? In this provocative book, Jim Bissett chronicles the rise and fall of the Socialist Party of Oklahoma during the first two decades of the twentieth century, when socialism in the United States enjoyed its golden age. To explain socialism’s popularity in Oklahoma, Bissett looks back to the state’s strong tradition of agrarian reform. Drawing most of its support from working farmers, the Socialist Party of Oklahoma was rooted in such well-established organizations as the Farmers Alliance and the Indiahoma Farmers’ Union. And to broaden its appeal, the Party borrowed from the ideology both of the American Revolution and of Christianity. By making Marxism speak in American terms, the author argues, Party activists counteracted the prevailing notion that socialism was illegitimate or un-American.

A crown jewel of New Left historiography, this overview of U.S. Marxism was hailed on its first publication for its nuanced storytelling, balance and incredible sweep. Brimming over with archival finds and buoyed by the recollections of witnesses and participants in the radical movements of decades past, Marxism in the United States includes fascinating accounts of the immigrant socialism of the nineteenth century, the formation of the CPUSA in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution, the rise of American communism and of the hugely influential Popular Front in the 1920s and '30s, the crisis and split of the '50s, and the revival of Marxism in the '60s and '70s. This revised and updated edition also takes into account the last quartercentury of life in the U.S., bringing the story of American Marxism up to the present. With today's resurgent interest in radicalism, this new edition provides an unparalleled guide to 150 years of American left history.