The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America Is Wracked by Culture Wars

Thank you for my book. It's a great copy and I plan to curl up with it this holiday weekend

The Left, Progressives, Liberals, Antifa, etc are destroying any possibility of a movement for change. These groups have no analysis, theory, no understanding of class history, etc, they are running on empty. Their individualism has changed a movement based on unity to one of individuality and it has united the oppressed with the oppressor. In order to get a grasp of how this happened read The Twilight of Common Dreams. Those of us who want to change the society we live in is not interested in giving up our freedom in a process that will lead us into a totalitarian state.

Could describe today, excellent, it helps one understand the people and the conflicts even though so many issues seem to be made partisan rather than historical.

Todd Gitlin died recently. His death prompted me to return to his writings. This book, written in 1995, shocked me. It is utterly prescient in its analysis of America. The decline of any organized left in this country can be traced to the shift from an inclusive economic analysis to one of identity politics. I have been struggling to understand 'the culture wars' in this country, both on the right and the left. This book helped me recognize the contributions of the left to those wars, and to the current ascendency of the right.The key message for us all: to heal the pain in this country, and to deal effectively with the many challenges our world and our country face, we need to do one thing: restore the commons. End the culture wars. We won't otherwise deal with climate change, economic disparities, a crumbling healthcare system, or international challenges.As the saying goes: E Pluribus Unum.

Written in the mid-90s when the "culture wars" were at their height, Gitlin's history of how the wars began in the Left, how conservatives fanned the flames and in the confusion consolidated their claim on the average American, seems somehow remote now. What with all politicians now running for the center, and the latest war (on terrorism) acting as a yet another national "unifier," the flames of the culture wars appear to have been stamped out by all the rushing, marching feet. Appearances are deceiving though. It's my guess the embers are still smoldering, and that a little poking and stirring will re-ignite the blaze.In this book, Gitlin�s strategy is to try to lower the heat of the culture wars through a "pox on both their houses" retelling of its genesis and most important battles. His attempt to shed light on the destructive effects of identity politics as practiced by the Left and distorted by the right feels forthright and balanced. There�s a good summary of the influence of various thinkers on the academic Left: Foucalt, Derrida, Horkheimer, Adorno, all of whom attacked the Enlightenment project in varying degrees, ushering in the era of "relativism." Also, he anticipates much of the ad hominen counter-Enlightenment criticism to be heaped on him by Lefty reviewers � e.g., he�s an old white male liberal academic Jewish prof out of touch with the latest radical twist on of those white male French guys, who still believes there can be a Left, and liberal and progressive causes worth fighting for. In other words, he does not agree with one of his graduate students who told him there is "no such thing as truth � there are only truth effects." (Gitlin nicely points out that anti-Enlightenment types still use the ground rules established by the Enlightenment to attack the Enlightenment).He starts the book with a first hand report on the difficulties of getting a new textbook series approved in Oakland, CA, which serves to demonstrate on a practical level the effect of post-modernist theory. Identity politics, that hydra-headed hyphenating monster (Japanese-Americans, African-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Mexican-Americans, etc.) kicked up so much dust that Oakland didn�t succeed in adopting any textbooks for at least two years. By contrast, the conservatives who protested were easy to mollify: some minor revisions mentioning creationism and they were fine. The hyphenates major complaint? The textbooks didn�t treat their various victimologies fully enough. Or that their stories were not told with enough obsequiousness and guilt. The textbooks themselves, in trying to anticipate such criticisms, broke up the main narrative with a multi-media look, and multi-perspectivist story-telling strategy.Less balanced is his description of how the false crisis of P(olitical) C(orrectness) was created in think tanks fueled by conservative money men (Olin, Heritage, etc.), spread by D�Souza and others, and promulgated through the media to whom it was cynically and successfully pitched as a story of "free speech denied." But then, Gitlin couldn�t have "balanced" this chapter in the Culture War because the Left, ambushed by the conservatives, couldn�t recover fast enough, and never had a chance to tell its side of the story in any meaningful way. It was an upside-down time when conservatives got to call liberals anti free-speech and McCarthy-like. Those free speech loving conservative anti-PC warriors were suddenly keeping America safe for good old-fashioned race-baiting, gender intolerance and just plain good ol� hate! I know they helped me see how wrong to be anti-anti-woman, anti-anti-Semitic, anti-racist, and anti-fascist.Eventually this latest semi-real war against terrorism will die out and we'll see the usual rancor return. In fact, the lack of a budget consensus now is a welcome step in that direction!

This is an uneven but in its own way courageous book. Todd Gitlin is an intellectual who was an idealistic activist in the 1960s left. He makes a case that the collective vision of the American left was dismantled by divisive identity politics. I have a few criticisms of the book, which I otherwise recommend.Gitlin plows into the quagmire of American identity on rather slippery footing. Although there are some eloquent passages, there are also instances where he fails to negotiate this sensitive subject with much grace. As reviewers from various backgrounds and genders point out in so many words, there seems to be an aggrieved ego underlying parts of the book. Gitlin can lack finesse in dealing with opposing viewpoints to his own. There are passages where he makes assumptions that betray am absence of respect for the profound divergence of experience among different people in this country. This problem, in combination with the book's grandiose title, opens him to criticism. I found this uncomfortable and somewhat aggravating.For instance, I wish Gitlin had acknowledged with greater clarity the reality that identity-based political struggles are an absolute necessity here. History clearly bears this out. Members of any U.S. minority are forced to form a separate group to struggle for a political voice on issues that impact them. (If they didn't do this then who exactly would take up their cause?) Gitlin doesn't seem to think today's identity-related political struggles are fully legitimate but they are very much so.Having said this, I can recommend the book. I found it oddly moving to read. The premise is provocative and important. I think he has a serious point to make -- and that he is on target in pointing out the complicity of post-modernism. By looking at the dark side of identity politics, he asks us how we envision ourselves. This is a very good question. His book provokes you to think through your own ideas on how to answer it. And you realize that is not an easy task.If the United States is to have a meaningful future as a country, we need a common dream. I would add that it should be a dream which carries a common respect for all people. A decade after Gitlin wrote this book, we see how divisiveness can be cynically exploited. It has been used to promote endless wars and obstruct fundamental human rights progress at home. As distasteful as I found the author's approach to the subject at times, one thing we share is a deep concern regarding the future of this country.