American Democratic Socialism History Politics Religion & Theory

The United States is witnessing a surge of democratic socialism, a reflection of a widespread recognition that global capitalism works only for a minority and is harming the planet's ecology. This history of American democratic socialism from its beginning to the present day begins with radical democrats of the early American republic and tracks the American refashioning of a European idea. It tells a story about socialists who founded the Republican Party and the first American socialist organizations, emphasizing that women and African Americans came to socialist activism mostly through Christian socialism, as did leaders of the first great hope of radical industrial unionism, the Knights of Labor.

Comprehensive, deeply researched and highly original, this book offers an impressive synthesis of secular and religious socialisms, detailing both their intellectual and their organizational histories.

A sweeping, ambitious history of American democratic socialism from one of the world's leading intellectual historians and social ethicists

The United States is witnessing a surge of democratic socialism, a reflection of a widespread recognition that global capitalism works only for a minority and is harming the planet's ecology. This history of American democratic socialism from its beginning to the present day begins with radical democrats of the early American republic and tracks the American refashioning of a European idea. It tells a story about socialists who founded the Republican Party and the first American socialist organizations, emphasizing that women and African Americans came to socialist activism mostly through Christian socialism, as did leaders of the first great hope of radical industrial unionism, the Knights of Labor.

Comprehensive, deeply researched and highly original, this book offers an impressive synthesis of secular and religious socialisms, detailing both their intellectual and their organizational histories.

A sweeping, ambitious history of American democratic socialism from one of the world's leading intellectual historians and social ethicists

"Dorrien is supremely qualified for the task he has set himself in this very thoughtful, necessary, and timely book."--Maurice Isserman, author of The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington

Democratic socialism is ascending in the United States as a consequence of a widespread recognition that global capitalism works only for a minority and is harming the planet's ecology. This history of American democratic socialism from its beginning to the present day interprets the efforts of American socialists to address and transform multiple intersecting sites of injustice and harm. Comprehensive, deeply researched, and highly original, this book offers a luminous synthesis of secular and religious socialisms, detailing both their intellectual and their organizational histories.

A sweeping, ambitious history of American democratic socialism from one of the world's leading intellectual historians and social ethicists

"Gary Dorrien is the greatest theological ethicist of the twenty-first century, our most compelling political theologian, and one of the most gifted historians of ideas in the world. His American Democratic Socialism is a work of astonishing erudition. Best of all, Dorrien is not only a searing chronicler of prophetic thought, but also a bold Christian participant in the historic quest for social justice."--Michael Eric Dyson, author of Entertaining Race: Performing Blackness in America

Democratic socialism is ascending in the United States as a consequence of a widespread recognition that global capitalism works only for a minority and is harming the planet's ecology. This history of American democratic socialism from its beginning to the present day interprets the efforts of American socialists to address and transform multiple intersecting sites of injustice and harm. Comprehensive, deeply researched, and highly original, this book offers a luminous synthesis of secular and religious socialisms, detailing both their intellectual and their organizational histories.

A sweeping, ambitious history of American democratic socialism from one of the world's leading intellectual historians and social ethicists

"The movement whose tangled history Gary Dorrien tells in American Democratic Socialism has deep roots in the very 'American' values it is accused of undermining. . . . The version of the socialist left that emerges is one that deserves more attention."--Hari Kunzru, New York Review of Books

Democratic socialism is ascending in the United States as a consequence of a widespread recognition that global capitalism works only for a minority and is harming the planet's ecology. This history of American democratic socialism from its beginning to the present day interprets the efforts of American socialists to address and transform multiple intersecting sites of injustice and harm. Comprehensive, deeply researched, and highly original, this book offers a luminous synthesis of secular and religious socialisms, detailing both their intellectual and their organizational histories.