The Conscience of a Liberal | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Krugman
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $12.94
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Avg. Customer Rating:  78 reviews
Sales Rank: 9709
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.3 x 1
ISBN: 0393060691
Dewey Decimal Number: 339.220973
EAN: 9780393060690
ASIN: 0393060691
Publication Date: October 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
This wholly original new work by the best-selling author of The Great Unraveling challenges America to reclaim the values that made it great.
With this major new volume, Paul Krugman, today's most widely read economist, studies the past eighty years of American history, from the reforms that tamed the harsh inequality of the Gilded Age to the unraveling of that achievement and the reemergence of immense economic and political inequality since the 1970s. Seeking to understand both what happened to middle-class America and what it will take to achieve a "new New Deal," Krugman has created his finest book to date, a work that weaves together a nuanced account of three generations of history with sharp political, social, and economic analysis. This book, written with Krugman's trademark ability to explain complex issues simply, will transform the debate about American social policy in much the same way as did John Kenneth Galbraith's deeply influential book, The Affluent Society.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 73 more reviews...
 Finally some good news! July 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I pretty much read only non-fiction, which is usually very informative but highly depressing. Krugman somehow manages to cover the modern American political state of affairs without depressing me. In fact this book is very hopeful in specific ways and overall quite uplifting.
In modern American political discourse, it seems common for any statistic that supports an ideological position to be used to further that point of view. Krugman takes the opposite tack: citing relevant and logically coherent information to describe in context where we are and how we got here. He then uses the same reasonable approach to outline achievable solutions to the problems of inequality that we face. It's nice to see the fixes as well as the problems.
I just hope Barak read this too.
 A decent history of the New Deal in practice July 9, 2008
Economist Paul Krugman offers an 8 chapter history of the New Deal with the remaining chapters amounting to a "to do" list for a coming progressive majority in Congress and the White House.
I certainly enjoyed his stories of growing up with the relative income equality of the 50s and 60s. Interestingly, the New Deal was a product of global economic recession, and - with no global economic shock appearing on the horizon - I'm not sure that his dream of a liberal renaissance can be realized.
Krugman prefers to isolate racism and not religious conservatism as the reason for America's reluctance to go as far as other advanced countries in its adoption of a social safety net. To some extent, the next few national elections will either substantiate or refute this premise.
Krugman also tends to demonize those he calls "Movement Conservatives" a bit. But, if you enjoy politics and economics, I think you will enjoy this book.
Nice Work July 9, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I recommend this book to liberals. For conservatives, I recommend the info on income distribution, particularly pages 124-136, and the chapter on health care. To be critical, and hopefully useful, I lament the following: 1) saying hyperinflation just kind of happened from 1965 to the `80's isn't good enough for an economist. Were higher wages a factor? Please explain. 2) Married couples are working about 1,000 hours more today than in 1976. Why isn't this mentioned? 3) Are we more in debt today than in 1973? This info would have been interesting. 4) Why begin the recent period in 1973, if arguing that conservative politics changed the economy for the worse? Isn't 1980 a genuine (not convenient or reverse engineered) starting point? 5) The author capitulates to conservatives by using the term "welfare state" Has welfare ever been more than 4% of GDP (not including Social Security)? "The welfare state" is propaganda and plays into the hands of Reagan Republicans. 6) Perhaps ten times, Mr. Krugman says general negative statements about conservatives. This is both preaching to the choir and the pot (liberal establishment) calling the kettle black, and harms our chances of gaining support from independents and moderate conservatives.
Overall, a very useful and readable book. I could say a hundred positive things. Better the book should be read.
 Interesting Slant June 4, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I'm a political moderate who's eyes caught the title of this book, in a bookstore. Thinking this might be the liberal version of "Conscience of a Conservative", I bought this book. After reading this, I've got to say, that Barry Goldwater did a much better of describing conservatism in the first 10 pages of his book, then Krugman did in almost 300 pages of this book.
There doesn't seem to be much about the "Liberal Conscience" in here, but more of a listing of stereotypes about conservatives, which, to the author anyway, are a monolithic group of elites, consistently conspiring to keep little man down, particularly the black ones. If you're a die hard liberal, then this book will reinforce every misconception you have about conservatives.
Krugman and Ann Coulter are pretty much two peas in a pod, but Krugman seems a lot nicer.
O.K. Social History from.....an Economist? May 17, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have to say, I was dissapointed with this book. The central thesis of the book is that markets never created the middle class lifestyle prevalent in the 1950's and 1960's but that this came about as a result of policies instituted as part of the New Deal. With the rise of the movement conservativism since the 1970's these policies have deteriorated and so has the middle class they created. Krugman believes it is possible to return to a more egalitarian distribution of wealth (and correspondingly for most, a higher quality of life than we currently enjoy) through a resurrection of New Deal values particularly an emphasis on strong unions. Krugman describes vaguely policies of the New Deal, guesses at their social/economic ramifications and spends quite a bit of time on the rise of Movement Conservativism. Krugman's idea is interesting and timely but he really doesn't do a very good job in supporting his argument. I was dissapointed in the lack of detail examining New Deal policies and their economic consequences and most of the social history Krugman covers is somewhat vague. As Krugman is an economist I was really expecting the book to involve substantial quantitative analysis, but I don't recall running across one statistic in the whole book and most of his conclusions seem like he is making a good guess. The whole book seems as through it was more of a first draft where he is fleshing out his basic ideas but still has as yet to go back and do the tedious work of substantiating them with....fact. In a nutshell, compelling idea but very poor on follow-through. Particularly dissapointing because the idea itself is really worth writing about. Also, the title really seems to market itself to an audience that identifies itself as "liberal" when in reality citizens of any political persuasion would benefit from this read.
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