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The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics
The New Deal: where does it fit in the big picture of American history? What does it mean for us today? What happened to the economic equality it once engendered? In "The Great Exception," Jefferson Cowie provides new answers to these big questions. Beginning in the Great Depression and through to the 1970s, he argues, the United States built a uniquely equitable period that contrasts with the deeper historical patterns of American political practice, economic structure, and cultural outlook.
During those exceptional decades, which Cowie situates in the long arc of American history, the government used its considerable resources on behalf of working Americans in ways that it had not before and has not since. The crises of the Depression and World War II forced realignments of American politics and class relations, but these changes were less a permanent triumph of the welfare state than the product of a temporary cessation of enduring tensions involving race, immigration, culture, class, and individualism. Against this backdrop, Cowie shows how any renewed American battle for collective economic rights needs to build on an understanding of how the New Deal was won--and how it ultimately succumbed to contrasting patterns ingrained in U.S. history. As positive as the era of Roosevelt was in creating a more equitable society, Cowie suggests that the New Deal may necessarily belong more to the past than the future of American politics.
Anyone who wants to come to terms with the politics of inequality in U.S. history will need to read "The Great Exception."
During those exceptional decades, which Cowie situates in the long arc of American history, the government used its considerable resources on behalf of working Americans in ways that it had not before and has not since. The crises of the Depression and World War II forced realignments of American politics and class relations, but these changes were less a permanent triumph of the welfare state than the product of a temporary cessation of enduring tensions involving race, immigration, culture, class, and individualism. Against this backdrop, Cowie shows how any renewed American battle for collective economic rights needs to build on an understanding of how the New Deal was won--and how it ultimately succumbed to contrasting patterns ingrained in U.S. history. As positive as the era of Roosevelt was in creating a more equitable society, Cowie suggests that the New Deal may necessarily belong more to the past than the future of American politics.
Anyone who wants to come to terms with the politics of inequality in U.S. history will need to read "The Great Exception."
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 26, 2016
32 people are currently reading
667 people want to read
About the author
Jefferson R. Cowie
8 books60 followersA social and political historian whose research and teaching focus on how class, race, inequality, and work shape American capitalism, politics, and culture, Jefferson Cowie is James G. Stahlman Professor of History at Vanderbilt University.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
October 15, 2019
This was the first book assigned to me in a course focusing on political culture in the US during 20th century, and I have to say that this was a fantastic starting point. The transition from the Gilded Age into the New Deals, as well as their immediate and long-term effects, are discussed in great detail and are essential to understanding how 20th and 21st century politics came to be. Other topics include the rise of corporatism and US labor unions' heyday before being crushed by, in addition to internal issues, the neoliberalism of the latter half of the century. Though dense, it's impressively so as Cowie attempts to cover such a large span of time is such a small book, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the era or looking to have a better foundational understanding in US political thought.
December 27, 2018
Clear Storytelling, Analysis and Argument
Explains why the US has never had a lasting, potent working class movement. The ideological pull of mythic individualism, combined with the fracturing effects of racism, nativism, and mistrust across political, religious and ethnic divides have precluded such a constructive force throughout our history with one "great exception" from 1935 to 1970.
This is the third book by the author that I have read, after Stayin' Alive and Capital Moves. Like the others, The Great Exception is very eloquent and engaging, and essential reading for those interested in the dynamics of inequality and how it might be remedied.
Explains why the US has never had a lasting, potent working class movement. The ideological pull of mythic individualism, combined with the fracturing effects of racism, nativism, and mistrust across political, religious and ethnic divides have precluded such a constructive force throughout our history with one "great exception" from 1935 to 1970.
This is the third book by the author that I have read, after Stayin' Alive and Capital Moves. Like the others, The Great Exception is very eloquent and engaging, and essential reading for those interested in the dynamics of inequality and how it might be remedied.
May 15, 2016
I reviewed it for The Federalist:
http://thefederalist.com/2016/05/14/h...
http://thefederalist.com/2016/05/14/h...
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June 23, 2024do NOT ask me about the last two chapters of this book 🙏
October 28, 2024
A very interesting argument, but it often reads like a condescending statist and liberal polemic that you'd see in The Atlantic.
October 10, 2021
The author's sentiments came across to me as generally negative. Reading it, one gets the impression that everything that has ever occurred with unionization, the creation of the New Deal, it's subsequent dismemberment and the fractious nature of American politics is all a chasing after the wind.
That is why one of his closing statements, that this writing, "...should not be taken as an exercise in cynicism but as a project to strengthen the imagination for the work that lies ahead (229)," rings so hollow. No, sir, I am sorry. Your work is a work of defeat piled on defeat piled on even more defeat. It makes no pretense anywhere in its pages to "strengthen the imagination." It is a work that screams the futility of it all, and, never once, offers any sort of path out of the darkness.
At one point he laments the lack of a Eugene Debs* type figure today (and today for him was 2016 when the book was published). However, in my opinion, he's ignoring that we live in an age where the internet changes the paradigm. No longer do we need one person willing to take the heat for leading the masses out of the darkness like a modern day Moses. Today, we have the internet that can turn hundreds of thousands of people into apostles for various important causes, spreading the word, teaching, highlighting and pursuing change.
Cowie does not appear to understand how change agency has been completely overhauled in the modern era.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_...
That is why one of his closing statements, that this writing, "...should not be taken as an exercise in cynicism but as a project to strengthen the imagination for the work that lies ahead (229)," rings so hollow. No, sir, I am sorry. Your work is a work of defeat piled on defeat piled on even more defeat. It makes no pretense anywhere in its pages to "strengthen the imagination." It is a work that screams the futility of it all, and, never once, offers any sort of path out of the darkness.
At one point he laments the lack of a Eugene Debs* type figure today (and today for him was 2016 when the book was published). However, in my opinion, he's ignoring that we live in an age where the internet changes the paradigm. No longer do we need one person willing to take the heat for leading the masses out of the darkness like a modern day Moses. Today, we have the internet that can turn hundreds of thousands of people into apostles for various important causes, spreading the word, teaching, highlighting and pursuing change.
Cowie does not appear to understand how change agency has been completely overhauled in the modern era.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_...
April 24, 2022
A very high-level overview of the political and socioeconomic shifts from the Gilded Age and Progressive Era that made the New Deal coalition (labor, business, and government in some degree of cooperation) possible, and an effective summary of how post 1970s political realignments represented not a "revolution" but a regression to the mean of individualism and largely unregulated financial and business interests. Because it was published before the election of Trump and the upheavals of covid, etc., it retains a good bit of explanatory power of the baseline dynamics of the American electorate without the breathless urgency of more recent commentary.
April 7, 2024
A reasonable assessment of the New Deal and the circumstances required to allow such a transgression against capital in the US. I think more could have been said about the ways that the Deal demonstrated the lack of consolidation of industrial capital's power in the '30s, and how financialization and neo-imperialism were responses to that exposed weakness. This book certainly provides a better understanding of the New Deal and its implications from the '30s-2010s than what you might pick up in high school history class or contemporary political discourses.
February 22, 2017
This was a highly educational look at US history. I was disheartened to learn that it's not just a recent thing that this country favors corporations over workers, but I feel like I have a much better understanding of how labor in the US got to be the way it is. Cowie's overarching point is that the New Deal was not a milestone in a progressive path toward a better country for all; it was the highly contingent result of an unusual combination of circumstances, and it went against the grain of many American tendencies, which have since resurfaced.
I particularly enjoyed the earlier sections of the book, which covered the first Gilded Age, the Progressive era early in the 20th century, and the Great Depression, and with the parts about the New Deal legislation itself. I'm familiar from personal experience with the way the New Deal order has unraveled since the 1970s, so those parts were interesting but not as novel to me (although it was enlightening to see them as part of a broader pattern; it can be hard to put things in context appropriately while they're happening or even immediately afterward).
Cowie explains how six factors aligned to make the New Deal possible (for example, tensions over immigration were largely muted by the Immigration Act of 1924, making the workforce more cohesive, and the Great Depression was severe enough that the concept of American individualism was somewhat less influential than it usually is).
He also points out that even with those factors in place, the New Deal was limited. I heard him give a talk in November of 2015, just before the book was published, and I remember him pointing out that the New Deal was great mostly for the white, male, industrial workforce—not so much for everyone else. I'm embarrassed that I never really thought about that before. (The price of getting Southern politicians on board was basically leaving Jim Crow untouched, for example.)
The limitations of the New Deal, among other things, underscore Cowie's point that we can't look back to the New Deal as a shining exemplar or as a model for going forward. It may be our finest behavior as a nation in many ways, but to me that seems to be almost as much condemnation as praise (why has it been so bad the rest of the time? and is that the best we can do?), and that world is not very much like the world we're working within now.
Cowie says at the end of the book, after I was pretty thoroughly demoralized by realizing more clearly what my country is like, that he wrote the book not as an exercise in cynicism but as a way to give people a clearer look at what they're up against and to stir the imagination to find a way to bridge the gap between American individualism and the need for collective action in the face of great inequality and indifference on the part of the powerful. He suggests looking maybe to the Progressive era of the early 20th century, as flawed as it was, rather than to the New Deal itself. In my notes from his talk, I see that he suggested that progress might lie in solutions outside of federal policy and traditional labor unions (I hope this paraphrase from my notes represents him adequately), for example, municipal minimum wage campaigns, worker centers, and consumer boycotts. I can't say I'm optimistic, but I am mildly reassured that someone who has spent so much time examining these questions seems to think there's a way forward.
I particularly enjoyed the earlier sections of the book, which covered the first Gilded Age, the Progressive era early in the 20th century, and the Great Depression, and with the parts about the New Deal legislation itself. I'm familiar from personal experience with the way the New Deal order has unraveled since the 1970s, so those parts were interesting but not as novel to me (although it was enlightening to see them as part of a broader pattern; it can be hard to put things in context appropriately while they're happening or even immediately afterward).
Cowie explains how six factors aligned to make the New Deal possible (for example, tensions over immigration were largely muted by the Immigration Act of 1924, making the workforce more cohesive, and the Great Depression was severe enough that the concept of American individualism was somewhat less influential than it usually is).
He also points out that even with those factors in place, the New Deal was limited. I heard him give a talk in November of 2015, just before the book was published, and I remember him pointing out that the New Deal was great mostly for the white, male, industrial workforce—not so much for everyone else. I'm embarrassed that I never really thought about that before. (The price of getting Southern politicians on board was basically leaving Jim Crow untouched, for example.)
The limitations of the New Deal, among other things, underscore Cowie's point that we can't look back to the New Deal as a shining exemplar or as a model for going forward. It may be our finest behavior as a nation in many ways, but to me that seems to be almost as much condemnation as praise (why has it been so bad the rest of the time? and is that the best we can do?), and that world is not very much like the world we're working within now.
Cowie says at the end of the book, after I was pretty thoroughly demoralized by realizing more clearly what my country is like, that he wrote the book not as an exercise in cynicism but as a way to give people a clearer look at what they're up against and to stir the imagination to find a way to bridge the gap between American individualism and the need for collective action in the face of great inequality and indifference on the part of the powerful. He suggests looking maybe to the Progressive era of the early 20th century, as flawed as it was, rather than to the New Deal itself. In my notes from his talk, I see that he suggested that progress might lie in solutions outside of federal policy and traditional labor unions (I hope this paraphrase from my notes represents him adequately), for example, municipal minimum wage campaigns, worker centers, and consumer boycotts. I can't say I'm optimistic, but I am mildly reassured that someone who has spent so much time examining these questions seems to think there's a way forward.
August 6, 2025
I took Cowie’s class in college, barely showed up, and earned a C. I now see that I owe him an apology, cuz this book rocks. It’s about the New Deal, but is also a wonderful primer on the history of United States politics from Reconstruction to Obama, and an examination of the currents, questions, and roadblocks that have always been present in our shitty political system. On top of that, Cowie is also a great writer—succinct, to the point. Wish I had gone to his lectures back in the day!
August 18, 2022
Good read, but take your time. The author uses long and sometimes complex sentences. The ideas are worth considering. I learned some new things and confirmed most of my own prejudices concerning today's political economics.
March 9, 2025
This is a great brief analysis of just how special the New Deal coalition/era was. Cowie does a great job defending his thesis and idea of the New Deal era being an exception in American history between 2 Gilded Ages.
August 23, 2019
Very thought provoking thesis and book. Definitely an important read if you’re interested in recent American history.
January 27, 2020
Not a lot new, but good synthesis and convincing argument.
May 28, 2024
Solid read, but was a bit dense coming into this with minimal historical context.
February 5, 2025
Cowie you make the new deal and everything in between… digestible
Read
February 7, 2025read for class
October 23, 2025
I am shocked that I enjoy this as much I as I did. It leads to hope
July 17, 2016
THE GREAT EXCEPTION by Jefferson Cowie, (2016) [five stars out of five]
I bet many Americas wish they had an FDR to vote for in the 2016 presidential election. But no way, says the historian, Jefferson Cowie in a a splendid book that every voter should read.
The late 1930's to the 1960's were a once in a life-time era. FDR's "forgotten man" (the worker) triumphed and the business elite was reigned in. The traditional belief in individualism was replaced by the liberal ideal of statism - governmental encouragement of collective economic and social security. The power of labor increased along with wages.
This use of governmental resources in WWII really broke loose in the post-war era of the 1950's. The "temporary cessation of the enduring Americantensions of race, immigration, class, culture and individualism" held firm. Working class achievement went up. There was more "equality, optimism, leisure, consumer goods, travel, entertainment, expansive houses and education."
But in the 1960's individualism again raised "its ugly head." The historical emphasis on "me," replaced the New Deal "we." The GOP with Nixon and Regan turned the clock back to the "divisions of nativism, fundamentalism, patriarchy, and hostility to collectivism." Anti-statism returned. Today the business elite reign supreme and working wages are stagnant.
The splendor of the New Deal was indeed the "Great Exception." And the author claims
that it will never be repeated.
While an academic, Cowie is no stuffy professorial writer. His prose is lively and
clear. This is a great read.
I bet many Americas wish they had an FDR to vote for in the 2016 presidential election. But no way, says the historian, Jefferson Cowie in a a splendid book that every voter should read.
The late 1930's to the 1960's were a once in a life-time era. FDR's "forgotten man" (the worker) triumphed and the business elite was reigned in. The traditional belief in individualism was replaced by the liberal ideal of statism - governmental encouragement of collective economic and social security. The power of labor increased along with wages.
This use of governmental resources in WWII really broke loose in the post-war era of the 1950's. The "temporary cessation of the enduring Americantensions of race, immigration, class, culture and individualism" held firm. Working class achievement went up. There was more "equality, optimism, leisure, consumer goods, travel, entertainment, expansive houses and education."
But in the 1960's individualism again raised "its ugly head." The historical emphasis on "me," replaced the New Deal "we." The GOP with Nixon and Regan turned the clock back to the "divisions of nativism, fundamentalism, patriarchy, and hostility to collectivism." Anti-statism returned. Today the business elite reign supreme and working wages are stagnant.
The splendor of the New Deal was indeed the "Great Exception." And the author claims
that it will never be repeated.
While an academic, Cowie is no stuffy professorial writer. His prose is lively and
clear. This is a great read.
September 3, 2022
This book is both a good general history about US politics since Reconstruction and a convincing analysis that shows us how the New Deal was an exception/outlier in US politics. I got this book mostly on the strength of his previous work ("Stayin' Alive") which is basically about the fall of the New Deal coalition, probably the best book I've read on this topic. This book is a little more academic and overtly analytical than "Stayin' Alive", but that is not a bad thing. It's a good mixture of historical overview and political analysis that I'd recommend to anyone interested in the topic.
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August 26, 2016973.917 C8749 2016
April 4, 2018
Some useful insights, but doesn't really deliver overall.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews