Praise for The Bulldozer and the Big Tent
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"No one is better than Todd Gitlin at describing the crucial dynamic through which movements gain or lose political power. Justly celebrated for his seminal work on such dynamics during the 1960s, Gitlin now he explains everything that's happened since, with passion and wisdom--and happily, because of Bushism's collapse, legitimate optimism about the future." --Michael Tomasky, editor, Guardian America

"An impassioned yet realistic plea for Democrats and liberals to become more serious about politics. They would do well to follow his advice." --Alan Wolfe, Director, Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College

"A brilliant and indispensable book. Gitlin convincingly urges liberals to take seriously the greater difficulty the Democrats have forging cohesion among identity based groups over the Republicans persuading the less diverse Republican base to bury disagreements in the drive for victory. Gitlin argues, Democrats will have to bite the bullet and unite under a big tent. A hard lesson for ardent newcomers to the movement to swallow, Gitlin is dead right." --Thomas B. Edsall, Special Correspondent, The New Republic

"This is an indispensable book by one of our most gifted public intellectuals. Todd Gitlin explains--with splendid scholarship, reporting, and wit--how the Bush machine debased our political life and how progressives, in all their variety, are struggling to build a new majority. It is the best guide we have to America's recent past and its possible future." --Michael Kazin, author of A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan and professor of history, Georgetown University

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Praise for The Intellectuals and the Flag
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"How might one reconcile patriotism with dissent? Love of country with the critical spirit? Grounded commitment with the Great Refusal? Have the events of September 11 changed the nature of our response? These are just some of the topical themes that Todd Gitlin addresses in his luminous new study, The Intellectuals and the Flag. Here is Gitlin at his best: lucid, insightful, thought-provoking, and broad-minded. A latter-day Tom Paine, Gitlin is quite simply the most informed voice writing in America today about the volatile interface between politics and culture." — Richard Wolin, City University of New York, author of The Seduction of Unreason: The Intellectual Romance with Fascism from Nietzsche to Postmodernism

"Of all the voices to be heard since 9/11, Todd Gitlin's is among the most welcome. While others—on left and right—have lost their heads, Gitlin has used the occasion to rethink and reassert where he stands on questions of power, political authority, civic engagement, patriotism, and much else. This is a bracing and admirable book." — Mark Lilla, University of Chicago, author of The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics

"Todd Gitlin has joined Irving Howe, Michael Walzer, Michael Harrington, and Christopher Lasch in the ranks of our nation's most brilliant, important, and perceptive social critics. The Intellectuals and the Flag will confirm that reputation. Gitlin is fearless: he challenges the status quo and his own side. He insists that the Left has a moral obligation to stop marginalizing itself and to change the country by appealing to our traditions of democracy, equality and community. We need critics who are patriots—and patriots who are critics. Gitlin shows that patriotism need not be, and should not be, the last refuge of scoundrels." —E. J. Dionne Jr., author of Why Americans Hate Politics and Stand Up Fight Back

Synopsis

Gitlin argues for a renewed sense of patriotism based on the ideals of sacrifice, tough-minded criticism, and a willingness to look anew at the global role of the United States in the aftermath of 9/11. Merely criticizing and resisting the Bush administration will not do—the left must also imagine and propose an America reformed.

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