Public Citizens: The Attack on Big Government and the Remaking of American Liberalism

by Paul Sabin

The story of the dramatic postwar struggle over the proper role of citizens and government in American society.
In the 1960s and 1970s, an insurgent attack on traditional liberalism took shape in America. It was built on new ideals of citizen advocacy and the public interest. Environmentalists, social critics, and consumer advocates like Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, and Ralph Nader crusaded against what they saw as a misguided and often corrupt government. Drawing energy from civil rights protests and opposition to the Vietnam War, the new citizens’ movement drew legions of followers and scored major victories. Citizen advocates disrupted government plans for urban highways and new hydroelectric dams and got Congress to pass tough legislation to protect clean air and clean water. They helped lead a revolution in safety that forced companies and governments to better protect consumers and workers from dangerous products and hazardous work conditions.
And yet, in the process, citizen advocates also helped to undermine big government liberalism—the powerful alliance between government, business, and labor that dominated the United States politically in the decades following the New Deal and World War II. Public interest advocates exposed that alliance’s secret bargains and unintended consequences. They showed how government power often was used to advance private interests rather than restrain them. In the process of attacking government for its failings and its dangers, the public interest movement struggled to replace traditional liberalism with a new approach to governing. The citizen critique of government power instead helped clear the way for their Reagan-era conservatives seeking to slash regulations and enrich corporations.
Public Citizens traces the history of the public interest movement and explores its tangled legacy, showing the ways in which American liberalism has been at war with itself. The book forces us to reckon with the challenges of regaining our faith in government’s ability to advance the common good.

Genres: Politics, History, Nonfiction, American History, 20th Century

272 pages, Paperback

Published December 3, 2024

About the author

Paul Sabin teaches American history at Yale University. He is the author of THE BET: PAUL EHRLICH, JULIAN SIMON AND OUR GAMBLE OVER EARTH'S FUTURE (2013), and CRUDE POLITICS: THE CALIFORNIA OIL MARKET, 1900-1940 (2005). Before joining the Yale faculty, Paul served as founding executive director of the non-profit Environmental Leadership Program. He is a graduate of Yale College and the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews

[Петър Стойков · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ралф Нейдър е известен американски общественик, който набира популярността си през 60те и 70те години с лобиране за приемане на закони за безопасност на автомобилите, за чист въздух и вода.

В тази нещо като негова професионална биография, Пол Сабин се опитва да обясни как този човек почти собственоръчно е започнал традицията на професионални неправителствени организации (НПО не с доброволци, а с платени служители), които оказват натиск върху правителството за прокарване на закони в обществен интерес.

От една страна това допринася за гореспоменатия обществен интерес, а от друга в момента, според автора, върви по-скоро в срещуположна посока, защото съдебната практика американски граждани и НПО да съдят правителството за всичко, е довела до това почти никакъв обществен проект да не може да се построи, защото постоянно бива спиран от безброй дела на "заинтересовани страни" - били те живущите в близост, екологични активисти загрижени за местообитанията на петнистогъзия скорец или големи корпорации, искащи да спрат благоприятен за конкурентите им проект.

[Rick Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Niche history of an interesting few decades. Could be a biopic of Ralph Nader. Gets a bit meandering at times

[Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not completely on board for the author’s overall argument here, though thankfully he surely didn’t set out to create a ‘both-siderism’ thesis the book can’t quite help but go there and it’s a bit disappointing. Surely citizen skepticism had much more of a basis than Nader’s raiders and the consumer protection movement spawned in the 60’s and 70’s.
It's somewhat to his credit that an 87 year old Nader invited Sabin to discuss his book on his podcast and the result was an entirely civil discussion on the merits of the book and Nader was quite soft handed in his criticisms. The book was well meaning but ultimately not entirely convincing as this movement pales in comparison to what has been going on in parallel with the conspiratorial and anti-government mindset movement.

https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/t...

[Chris Barsanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, smart pocket history of the rise of the public interest and citizen advocacy movement from the mid-1960s to 1980. Shows not just how Ralph Nader and others used public outrage and deep wonkery to uncover how close government regulators had become to the industries they were supposedly monitoring, but also how they pushed through dramatic accountability. The tragedy of the book, though, is that while their initial successes were undeniable (cleaner environment, safer cars, more business accountability, all of which add up to many thousands of saved lives and improved lives for millions) the movement never quite figured out a second act to institutionalize their reforms. Also, the combative outside entities they created could well have helped spur the parallel growth of right-wing interest groups and a widespread cynicism about government whose effects we live with today, along with the positive benefits.

[William Sedlack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well argued albeit with a disappointedly narrow focus.

[Charles M · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise , well argued and thoroughly researched account of the initial attacks in the 1960s and 1970s on the ossified New Deal regulatory agencies and the then coalition of Big Government , Big Business and Big Labor who were their real constituencies by critics on the left who wanted government to act more effectively in the public interest with a heavy emphasis on the environmental groups . The attacks were backed by foundations and often court and legislatively centered. . Little effort was extended by these groups on building broader coalitions . Like many reformers many suffered from the conclusion
it was more important to be ideologically pure than to make incremental gains through political compromise . The roles of Ralph Nader and public service law firms are fully discussed . Sabin persuasively argues that these attacks preceded in effectiveness the Reagan era market onesie reducing government in fracturing the old Democratic Liberal consensus. He does this in under 200 pages and presents a sympathetic view of Carter’s efforts in attempting to make government more efficient and better serve the public

[Austin Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sabin's pocket history of the consumer advocacy / public interest movement is a fascinating read. Beginning in the 1950s, Sabin explores how individual left-wing American government administrators, researchers, and public intellectuals waged an increasingly aggressive war against the failures of big government, as best exemplified by Ralph Nader. Figures such as Nader, critiquing the "tripartite" alliance of big government, big business, and big labor, showed how the nation's elected and unelected representatives (especially the federal agencies) enjoyed cushy relationships with corporate interests and sidelined the "public interest." Rising to fame with his 1965 report "Unsafe at Any Speed," Nader would go on to fashion what we now know today as the non-profit sector, leading to countless public interest law firms, advocacy groups, and other NGOs to regulate the government. His work initially created massive legislative successes, such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act, of the 1970s. In the process, Nader critiqued New Deal liberalism, which created fractures within the Democratic Party as its representatives struggled to balance its pragmatic interests with the idealistic ambitions of this ascendant group.

The book, however, reads more like a biography of Ralph Nader from his time at Princeton to the 2000 Presidential Election. The subject of inquiry of this book, sometimes, is less about liberalism and the consumer advocacy movement but the increasingly quixotic figure of Nader. That is not to say its interesting-Sabin manner of writing makes me ask that, particularly as Nader's career advanced, was his work driven by an altruistic motivation to better everyday people's lives or a will to project a legacy? An animus for the Democratic Party? What is the role of ideological purity in politics? I think the spat between Joan Claybrook and Ralph Nader after she joined the Carter administration highlights this point. But I do feel many of the other "Public Citizens" of which he refers-Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, John Gardner, James Gustave Speth, James Fallowes-are side characters whose involvement in the movement could have been fleshed out more.

My last three major qualms are as follows: the matter of mass activism and the book's conclusions. It felt like movements for racial or class justice was sometimes tagged on as failures of Nader's politics, but it is never fully ever realized besides the occasional reminder that Nader didn't just /have/ to work on making automobiles safer or making the air cleaner or other similar regulatory measures. He could have (and did!) team up with miners to combat black lung disease or team up with urban activists to protest highway construction. Primarily, I was interested in the claim that since most of Nader's support came from college-educated, white middle or upper-middle-class liberals, I wanted more of a direct connection between these two things rather than the insistence that he eschewed these paths without much evidence. Secondly, his conclusions in the book that America needs an invigorated liberalism are true, but Sabin offers no real next steps for activists and establishment figures to reconcile their conflicts. How do we repair the rifts between the left and the center, to create what might be called a "popular front," against growing right-wing extremism and to make lives actually better for people?

[Atlas · Rating 4 out of 5]

🌟 Public Citizens: The Attack on Big Government and the Remaking of American Liberalism by Paul Sabin 🌟

A heartfelt thank you to WWNorton for providing me with an ARC of this insightful and thought-provoking book. Public Citizens delves into the dramatic postwar struggle over the role of citizens and government in American society, offering a nuanced and academic perspective that is both engaging and informative.

The 1960s and 1970s witnessed a profound shift in American liberalism, as environmentalists, social critics, and consumer advocates like Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, and Ralph Nader challenged the traditional alliance between government, business, and labor. This citizen advocacy movement, fueled by civil rights protests and opposition to the Vietnam War, achieved significant victories, including the passage of legislation to protect clean air and water, and the promotion of consumer and worker safety. 🌟🧐

However, as Sabin astutely points out, this movement also inadvertently contributed to the erosion of big government liberalism. By exposing the secret bargains and unintended consequences of government power, public interest advocates paved the way for Reagan-era conservatives seeking to slash regulations and enrich corporations. This tangled legacy forces us to grapple with the challenges of regaining faith in government's ability to advance the common good. 🌍🌳

Key Strengths:

♡︎.ᐟજ⁀➴ Comprehensive historical analysis: Sabin meticulously traces the history of the public interest movement, providing a well-researched and thorough examination of its origins and impact. 🏛️💼
♡︎.ᐟજ⁀➴ Insightful critique: The author offers a balanced and thoughtful critique of the movement, acknowledging its achievements while also highlighting its unintended consequences. 🤔
♡︎.ᐟજ⁀➴ Engaging narrative: Despite its academic rigor, Public Citizens is a compelling and engaging read, with Sabin's clear and concise writing style drawing the reader in.

Areas for Improvement:

♡︎.ᐟજ⁀➴ Over-emphasis on Nader: While Ralph Nader's contributions are undeniable, the book sometimes feels more like a biography of Nader than a comprehensive analysis of the broader movement. 📜👥
♡︎.ᐟજ⁀➴ Lack of clear solutions: Sabin's conclusions about the need for an invigorated liberalism are compelling, but the book could benefit from more concrete suggestions for how to achieve this.📉🔍

In conclusion, Public Citizens is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of American liberalism and the complex interplay between citizens, government, and the public interest. Sabin's scholarly yet engaging approach makes this book accessible to both academic and general readers alike. I enthusiastically give it 4 out of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Until next time, keep exploring the intricacies of our political landscape! 📚🌟

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to this book the way I figure most people will be coming to it these days... by way of the abundance agenda crowd, eg Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson, Jen Pahlka, etc. I pre-ordered Abundance, but Bookshop.org won't have it to me until April 4th according to the package tracking (come on Bookshop... that's more than two weeks after release!), so I've been nerdily reading around some of the source material.

Reading Public Citizens feels to me what I imagine a GenAlpha history wonk will feel reading about the rise of the internet... Public interest law has always been part of the American legal system as I've known it, and I've never really thought to wonder about its origin story. I've also never thought to question its unintended consequences, or the implicit narratives reinforced by its very existence.

Sabin contends that the public interest law movement shifted our collective understanding of the government's role away from being the representative of the public's interest against corporate power. Now, we see government as more of a mediator between corporate and public interests.

This shift pushes many progressives to build careers fighting the government rather than working for it and antagonizing those on their own side for any form of compromise. While this strategy was borne of real corruption and harmful corporate capture of government agencies ("who will regulate the regulators?") and initially led to significant policy wins (like the Clean Air Act), it has reinforced the conservative narrative that government is no good and paved yet another path for private and corporate interests to stymie important public projects... The latter point is only gestured at here, and is covered more fully in other book I read recently in the nascent abundance canon, Why Nothing Works.

I now have much, much better context to understand the origins of our local ombudsman position, Nader's 2000 bid for president (my senior year of high school), and the funding model for Public Interest Research Groups... all of which I'd intended to look into at some point, but had never gotten around to.

Some have pointed out that this may have well have been a biography of Nader... I disagree: it's just enough of a taste to wish there were a full biography published. Hachette has a short one that was published during his presidential run 25 years ago... I'll wait for something better.

[Zak Yudhishthu · Rating 4 out of 5]

It quickly became clear why so many wonky, “abundance”-oriented journalists have recommended this book, including Ezra Klein who has a quote on the back of it. The narrative about Nader’s crusade to take down the cozy government regulators clearly helped set up our current inability to build new things for today’s crises. I thought Sabin did well to lay out the tensions in this vision of professionalized, progressive “consumer interest” advocacy.

Of course, reflecting on the nascent abundance movement feels like navel gazing when the closest thing to a response against Nader’s vision is the DOGE-induced chaos. But in a funny way, reading about the rapid growth of this movement seems to offer a funny parallel to both DOGE and the abundance movement: a bunch of professional elites who were frustrated with a complacent status quo and ratcheted up a movement to react against it. Fast-moving, Ivy League-heavy, and probably too unaware of its own contradictions.

Overall, a useful read that has its rightful place in the current abundance journalism/poli sci/history bookshelf. I wish it talked more about Jane Jacobs, instead of a very brief tease, but I guess that’s why we’re waiting on Jacob Anbinder’s book.

[Valarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many people know Ralph Nader as the 2000 election spoiler, but this book looks back to when he was at the pinnacle of his "power" and the public interest law movement he helped found. I liked how Sabin looks at the positive (how much they accomplished over the 1970s) and the negative (that the work was exclusive and exploitative -- you almost had to be an independently wealthy graduate of Harvard, Yale, or Princeton to do the work because it was long hours and very low pay, which remains a feature of public interest nonprofits to this day) I would have liked to have Jane Jacobs and Rachel Carson not treated as afterthoughts -- just because they didn't exploit a bunch of elite college students as well, doesn't mean that Jacobs didn't challenge us about how we think of cities or Carson how we think about the environment. All those environmental groups Sabin talks about in the book owe much more to Silent Spring than to Nader's Raiders.

[William Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic timepiece. Public Citizens is part-biography of Ralph Nader, part-requiem for the New Deal liberal order that governed American politics from the 1930s to the late 1970s — and the role Nader and his Raiders had in destroying it without offering anything constructive to replace it.

Nader was brilliant for spotting the inherent flaws in liberalism c. 1970, and incredibly effective at mobilizing for policy change in the great environmental decade, but unfortunately he was blind to the damage his all-or-nothing, purity test progressivism did to the Democratic Party (both in 1980 and in 2000 [rip, Al Gore]).

A very well-researched, readable book that engages with legal developments without being overly lawyerly. Kudos to the author. Fascinating history that isn’t all that old and certainly sticks with us today!

[Matthew LaPine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book's title suggests an expansive review of liberalism versus "big government" when it is really a timeline of Ralph Nader's rise in the 60's through the end of the 70's, and no more.

While the influence of Nader and the organizations that spawned from his efforts cannot be understated, that influence waned in the 80's as conservative public interest groups rose up to combat the liberal PIRGs, and concluded with Nader pilfering votes leading to Bush winning the presidency in 2000. Not a great legacy.

The book does not offer any suggestions for how American Liberalism might regain some momentum, especially in light of conservative gains in the judiciary, Congress and more. If it had that, it might have been of more value.

[Jacob Stutsman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Public Citizens is a smart, incisive, and eloquent (though by no means comprehensive) history of the public interest movement that sought to break the close association between government and business in the latter half of the 20th century. The book raises many interesting questions, including the thin line between bold public advocacy and reckless provocateur, moral purity vs. compromise, the meaning of public interest, and the worrying erosion of trust in the government engendered by the relentless attacks from outside groups. However, Sabin applies a relatively light touch in his treatment of the subject matter. Don't expect him to provide a truly thorough examination of all aspects of the movement.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A flat 3 stars at best, and actually rated below that at "the other guys" that allow fractional ratings.

My main problem is not, unlike some others at "the other guys," and maybe here, attacking Sabin for "twosiderism." I don't think he does. And, it's DEFINITELY not the same concern as wingnuts here claiming Nader is a communist or something and thinking maybe Sabin should have been harsher yet.

Rather, it's that the book just doesn't have that much depth, especially with its early chronological truncation. For details on why it's really 2.75 stars, go here.

[Trenton Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great retrospective on the public interest movement of the 1970's and the political infighting of the left. Ralph Nader is the central character and could have been included in the subtitle. Read this in March 2025 and the later half of the book really breaks down the failures of the Carter administration the break with the public interest groups to engender some form of compromise with corporate interests. It does a good job describing how the left can eat its own and self-sabotage. The early Reagan years are also summarized well and provide a prescient retelling of the beginning of an administration that looked and sounder very much like this Trump 2.0 administration.

[Nss2108 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's helpful to understand the kind of perniciousness of the Nader revolution and the ways that he both changed and slowed down government processes, as well as setting up the idea that nonpartisan nonprofits are movements, replacing and combatting the more totalizing institutions. Like obviously Reagan is much worse, but one of the issues that we find is that the tools to do the things we need to do are no longer around/easily available/are bogged down in a bunch of pointless lawsuits, and that's one of Nader's legacies.

[Anna Rosenfeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highly critical history of Ralph Nader and the public interest movement in the 60s and 70s - an important critique even when much of the argument is flawed. Clearly a significant book in much of the contemporary discussion surround the Democratic party and new ideas of liberal governance. Spends far more time talking about backlash to regulation than the actual goals of public interest litigation / policy (and blames a ton of blame on Nader for Reagan’s rise to power with little discussion other factors).

[Peter Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in high school when the public citizen movement was unfolding. I wish that I'd been more aware of it, instead attending to counter-cultural protests.

This book really filled out my knowledge of how that period added a third arm with government and business to our system.

Like many scholarly books, at times it was a chore to read, offering a very detailed and comprehensive coverage of its topics. It surely was worth the effort! Thank you, Paul Sabin!

[Cek994 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lucid and refreshingly concise — but detailed — bit of policy history. Critical of Nader’s enduring dogmatism and surprisingly defensive of Carter’s vain attempts at pragmatism, the omission of any post Clinton analysis is striking. Useful background context to contemporary Abundance discussions and how progressivism came to work hand in hand with Reagan to kneecap and disdain government and the people working within it.

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cool book!! This is a perfect paired read with Abundance, as it explains the context of how and why well-intended liberals put restrictive regulations in place.

Rating: 4.5, hesitantly rounding up, probably because it was on a topic I'm very interested in and it made connections that I hadn't previously thought about.

[Corey Runkel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have made a great article. It catalogued the rise of Nader and the limits of his approach in the 1970s. My main critique is that it was a little dry but I also would have liked
- more attention on Jane Jacobs and Rachel Carson given their prominence in the intro and the media for the book
- fuller discussion of how conservatives have turned these methods to other goals

[Joey K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great look at the public interest movement’s origins and eventual incorporation into the “US political economy,” as Sabin puts it. A new gen of liberal activists (Nader, Jacobs, Carson…mostly Nader) who saw major flaws with New Deal liberalism and sought to reform.

Would be paired nicely with “Revolt of the Public,” which argues that we’ve run out of alternative solutions but have become excellent at rejecting the status quo.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in audiobook form. Kind of a niche topic, which limited my interest in it, but well done for what it was. It tells the story of the liberal criticism of government in the 60s/70s and its mixed results (mixed from every political perspective, really)

[Elisa R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're young like me and work for an environmental nonprofit, this is a must read. Fascinating history of how public interest groups such as EDF, NRDC, etc. came to be. Also helpful for understanding left/right responses to environmentalism and the helpful/harmful role of government action.

[Nate Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book, not quite what I was expecting. Pretty comprehensive history of Ralph Nader and the rise of the Public Interest/Public Citizen movement. Ties in to Rachel Carson and Jane Jacobs - lots of consumer activism movement stuff from the 70's.

[Neil Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

At a time when trust in government and other institutions is at an all-time low, I enjoyed this history of the use and abuse of the judicial system to hamstring the executive and legislative branches.

[Dylan Groves]

and attack on my family's religion. i hope my grandmother doesnt read it.

[Peter Z. · Rating 1 out of 5]

🚮

[Clifford · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look back at the work of Ralph Nader and liberal activism from the 60's and 70's