Madrick is clearly writing this book to help start the fledgling reaction against the conservative movement of the last 25 years, trying to add intellectual clout to the ground surge against the republican mindset. He takes on a lot of the core ideas of the conservative ideology, showing how little basis they have in economic history. Clearly, economics on both sides of the aisle are heavily influenced by the politics of the researcher, and I'm sure that some of Madrick's numbers are as fuzzy as those used by his opponents, but it's hard to argue with some of the history he cites. His policy ideas and proposed solutions at the end of the book are eye opening and well reasoned, including plausible numbers on their costs. He encourages Americans to think big again after decades of negative thoughts.