James Traub Book order (chronological)

A moral examination of one of the first Jewish senators, confidante to Jefferson Davis, and champion of the cause of slavery

In the era of Trump and Marine le Pen, liberalism faces significant challenges. There is a growing fear that liberal values, once taken for granted, are now at risk from both authoritarian regimes abroad and a waning faith within liberal societies. This raises critical questions: What led to liberalism's decline in majority support? What makes it valuable? Award-winning journalist James Traub addresses these issues by tracing liberalism's history, from the American and French revolutions to the writings of John Stuart Mill and early twentieth-century American progressives. He examines liberalism's midcentury triumph in the West, its current vulnerabilities, and its uncertain future. Traub illustrates that liberalism began with a focus on individual liberty but evolved to balance freedom with justice and equality, opposing both economic exploitation and totalitarianism. This evolution also transformed the relationship between liberalism and democracy; while many nineteenth-century liberals were concerned about democracy's illiberal tendencies, by the mid-twentieth century, liberalism became a shared belief among a broad spectrum of Americans and Europeans. However, even as the liberal West triumphed post-Cold War, its foundations weakened under the pressures of economic inequality and complex issues of race and immigration, leading to a resurgence of liberalism's challenges in recent decades.

Following the invasion of Iraq, critics, and supporters of Kofi Annan, began asking whether failures of UN arise from a clash with a US administration? This book delves into these questions and describes the Oil-for-Food scandal, the failed attempt to act decisively against ethnic cleansing in Sudan, and his sweeping reforms.