In Defense of Populism

Donald T. Critchlow is Katzin Family Professor of History and leads the Program in Political History and Leadership at Arizona State University. He is author of numerous books, including Republican Character: From Nixon to Reagan, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

• Introduction: Social Protest and DemocracyChapter 1. Populism: Prelude to "Big Government"Chapter 2. New Deal Protest and the Administrative StateChapter 3. How Grassroots Mobilization Changed Postwar Civil RightsChapter 4. Second-Wave Feminism, Social Protest, and the Rights RevolutionChapter 5. The Populist Right: Anti-Statism and Anti-ElitismChapter 6. Protest in a Polarized AgeNotesAcknowledgments

"Populism has become a dirty word-the dirty word-in politics, in America and around the world. But, as historian and longtime political analyst Donald Critchlow explains, popular activism, of the left and of the right, has been a major force in American history, and usually a force for the good. His evenhanded analysis will prove revealing to anyone tired of the name-calling that pervades so much political commentary today." (Michael Barone, senior political analyst, Washington Examiner) "Donald Critchlow's spirited defense of American populism drives home an important fact: social movements have been essential to American democracy as a source of revision and renewal for the nation's major political parties. Critchlow opens for intelligent debate issues that are central to comprehending the present as well as the past, not least the distinctions between authentic grass-roots insurgencies and those manipulated and even created by already powerful interests. Nobody should think of either rejecting or embracing the populist mythos without reading this book." (Sean Wilentz, author of The Politicians and the Egalitarians: The Hidden History of American Politics) "Some readers might think it's audacious to link the People's Party, the Black Panthers, and the John Birch Society, but Donald T. Critchlow's compelling and timely book uncovers the radicalism that runs like a silver thread through American history. We discover the importance of grassroots activism, of the inevitable (sometimes comic) factionalism and, most importantly, that populism usually loses when it wins. The Democrats and Republicans have lasted this long by absorbing new ideas and movements, and Critchlow demonstrates that as left-wing populism was translated into welfare state bureaucracy, so it triggered the right-wing populism that tore it down. This is a beautifully researched, important book. Its implication-that Donald Trump, love him or loathe him, arose from an authentically American tradition that draws from both Left and Right-is a vital contribution to U.S. political history." (Tim Stanley, columnist and lead writer, Daily Telegraph)