Liberty Under Siege: American Politics 1976-1988

by Walter Karp

Liberty Under Siege is an extraordinary book. Here, finally, is a reveille for reality, a call to stop this long intoxication with illusion and look at what has been happening to our republic. Walter Karp combines the passion of Tom Paine with the urgency of Paul Revere to sound a patriot's alarm for his country.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, American, History

261 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, published in the late 1980s, is a polemical analysis from the left of the causes of the political and policy failures of the Carter Administration and successes of the Reagan Administration and their deleterious effects on the country's post-Watergate popular political awakening. Carp's central thesis is that entrenched Democratic leaders in Congress (most notably Sen. Byrd and Rep. O'Neill) actively worked to sabotage Carter and strengthen Reagan. I found the overarching narrative engaging and somewhat persuasive, and Carp focuses enough on institutional concerns to avoid a more problematic "great man" view of history. But he focuses so little on exogenous factors that influenced macroeconomic trends (e.g., OPEC, the Federal Reserve) that the analysis at times reads like current commentators that ignore political scientists' understanding of drivers of presidential election outcomes, such as a falling unemployment rate. However, I always enjoy reading about how terrible Reagan was. It also features the great line, "commercial republics, alas, accept commercial excuses, and economics often becomes, for that reason, the first refuge of scoundrels in America".

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been born in 1976 I lived through the Carter and Reagan eras without having a clear sense of what their presidencies meant. This book, which is more of a polemic than a history, helped me understand both me understand the politics of this twelve-year span and especially shed light on the destruction of the Carter presidency by the Democratic speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill.