Left Adrift

Timothy Shenk is an assistant professor of history at George Washington University. A senior editor at Dissent magazine, he has written for the New York Times, the Nation, the New Republic, and Jacobin, among other publications. He has been a Mellon postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New America Foundation. He lives outside Washington, D.C.

“ [A] deft and nuanced narrative.” —Nation“An alternative history of how left parties came to embrace the set of market-friendly, triangulating policies, eventually known as the Third Way, that quickened the loss of working-class voters... [Shenk] is altogether convincing.” —New Republic“The most useful takeaway of Left Adrift is that the 2024 election is, contrary to what many seem to think, a rather ordinary one for the post-1968 era—as, indeed, were the 2016 and 2020 contests, Donald Trump’s personal eccentricities notwithstanding.” —Compact magazine“Left Adrift is a short book offering a small window onto a vast subject of global importance.... Shenk offers an absorbing, well written and often entertaining account of how four centre-left parties across three continents over five decades have responded to their loss of working-class support and the increasing polarisation of their electorates.” —Inside Story“A wise analysis on the past, present, and future of liberalism.... Perfect for political junkies.” —Kirkus Reviews“If the Trump Era were a television series like Game of Thrones, Left Adrift would be the fascinating prequel. Timothy Shenk has written a riveting portrait of the moment when the subterranean plates of American politics began to shift. By focusing on two of the key players in the internal struggles of the Democratic Party, he brings a vividness and emotion that makes Left Adrift much more than a political science treatise. I’d urge anyone who finds the politics of today perplexing—and don’t we all?—to read Left Adrift. No one else has told this story and it’s compelling, entertaining and important.” —Stuart Stevens, political consultant and author of It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump“Left Adrift may be the wisest, most original book to explain the dilemmas of class and culture that bedevil the electoral left in the U.S. and its counterparts around the world. It’s also a delight to read. In zestfully narrating the parallel careers of two master consultants who despise one another, Timothy Shenk reveals how liberals got into this mess and what they must do to escape it.” —Michael Kazin, author of What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party“Fans of Timothy Shenk know him as a penetrating thinker and deft writer. And, gosh, he really is. Left Adrift is a clear-eyed account of how the left lost its political footing, written with insight, erudition, and a dash of hope.” —Daniel Immerwahr, author of How to Hide an Empire