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Cultural Front
The Left at War
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 and Bush’s belligerent response fractured the American left—partly by putting pressure on little-noticed fissures that had appeared a decade earlier.
In a masterful survey of the post-9/11 landscape, renowned scholar Michael Bérubé revisits and reinterprets the major intellectual debates and key players of the last two decades, covering the terrain of left debates in the United States over foreign policy from the Balkans to 9/11 to Iraq, and over domestic policy from the culture wars of the 1990s to the question of what (if anything) is the matter with Kansas.
The Left at War brings the history of cultural studies to bear on the present crisis—a history now trivialized to the point at which few left intellectuals have any sense that merely "cultural" studies could have something substantial to offer to the world of international relations, debates over sovereignty and humanitarian intervention, matters of war and peace. The surprising results of Bérubé’s arguments reveal an American left that is overly fond of a form of "countercultural" politics in which popular success is understood as a sign of political failure and political marginality is understood as a sign of moral virtue. The Left at War insists that, in contrast to American countercultural traditions, the geopolitical history of cultural studies has much to teach us about internationalism—for "in order to think globally, we need to think culturally, and in order to understand cultural conflict, we need to think globally." At a time when America finds itself at a critical crossroads, The Left at War is an indispensable guide to the divisions that have created a left at war with itself.
In a masterful survey of the post-9/11 landscape, renowned scholar Michael Bérubé revisits and reinterprets the major intellectual debates and key players of the last two decades, covering the terrain of left debates in the United States over foreign policy from the Balkans to 9/11 to Iraq, and over domestic policy from the culture wars of the 1990s to the question of what (if anything) is the matter with Kansas.
The Left at War brings the history of cultural studies to bear on the present crisis—a history now trivialized to the point at which few left intellectuals have any sense that merely "cultural" studies could have something substantial to offer to the world of international relations, debates over sovereignty and humanitarian intervention, matters of war and peace. The surprising results of Bérubé’s arguments reveal an American left that is overly fond of a form of "countercultural" politics in which popular success is understood as a sign of political failure and political marginality is understood as a sign of moral virtue. The Left at War insists that, in contrast to American countercultural traditions, the geopolitical history of cultural studies has much to teach us about internationalism—for "in order to think globally, we need to think culturally, and in order to understand cultural conflict, we need to think globally." At a time when America finds itself at a critical crossroads, The Left at War is an indispensable guide to the divisions that have created a left at war with itself.
349 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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About the author
Michael Bérubé
33 books16 followersMichael Bérubé is the director of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities and the Paterno Family Professor in Literature at Penn State University.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 19, 2025
A tedious and tendentious book.
Consists largely of evidence-free accusations and strained readings.
As an example, the book does contain endnotes but these are very sporadic and there's often no indication of how a particular claim is supported. There are no endnote numbers and large amounts of text have no citation.
In Chapter 1, the author weaves a made-up theory about Chomsky's famous book "Manufacturing Consent", claiming it's trying to explain how the media creates "false consciousness" in the consumers. Here's a representative quote:
"For Chomsky, as for media theorists like Robert McChesney and social critics like Tom Frank, the reason that the left remains a tiny minority in the United States is that so many people are living in false consciousness about their true interests. According to this line of thought, only a few people have the time, the training, and the desire to pierce the veil of ideology and see the truth as in itself it really is."
Turning to Chomsky's book, the phrase "false consciousness" appears exactly zero times. That's because the book is talking about how the media operates, not its supposed effect on the readers. There's almost no discussion in Chomsky's book on what the consumers of the media believe -- again, because that's not the topic of the book.
The claim about Chomsky supposed thesis -- that everyone except a few people are too stupid to understand the truth -- is literally the complete opposite of what Chomsky says in the book and elsewhere.
Returning to Berube's book, all of this discussion about Chomsky doesn't have a single endnote. It's entirely made up.
That's standard fare for this book.
Consists largely of evidence-free accusations and strained readings.
As an example, the book does contain endnotes but these are very sporadic and there's often no indication of how a particular claim is supported. There are no endnote numbers and large amounts of text have no citation.
In Chapter 1, the author weaves a made-up theory about Chomsky's famous book "Manufacturing Consent", claiming it's trying to explain how the media creates "false consciousness" in the consumers. Here's a representative quote:
"For Chomsky, as for media theorists like Robert McChesney and social critics like Tom Frank, the reason that the left remains a tiny minority in the United States is that so many people are living in false consciousness about their true interests. According to this line of thought, only a few people have the time, the training, and the desire to pierce the veil of ideology and see the truth as in itself it really is."
Turning to Chomsky's book, the phrase "false consciousness" appears exactly zero times. That's because the book is talking about how the media operates, not its supposed effect on the readers. There's almost no discussion in Chomsky's book on what the consumers of the media believe -- again, because that's not the topic of the book.
The claim about Chomsky supposed thesis -- that everyone except a few people are too stupid to understand the truth -- is literally the complete opposite of what Chomsky says in the book and elsewhere.
Returning to Berube's book, all of this discussion about Chomsky doesn't have a single endnote. It's entirely made up.
That's standard fare for this book.
January 10, 2012
Berube's thesis surrounds what he calls the Manichean Left in this country, in more popular circles led by Chomsky and Z Magazine, and accuses them of having greatly oversimplified leftist politics and the effect of mass media in manipulating popular sentiment. Berube thinks mass media plays more of a supportive role for conservative ideas than an oppressive one against leftist thought, and the left is simply failing to make its case in the war of ideas.
I feel Berube nit picks at what are essentially rhetorical arguments between the democratic liberal left (of which he sees himself) and the more radical left that he sees Chomsky as symptomatic of. While there are qualitative differences that exist between the two, Berube focuses on very small debates between Chomsky and others in the pages of Z Magazine and the internet rather than paying attention to the larger role Chomsky plays in the American Left and his ability to galvanize widespread support for left-leaning ideas. Berube spends more time engaging in very nuanced discussions than looking at the effect Chomsky and the like have had in the popular imaginary.
Still, the book is very enjoyable for anyone already familiar with debates in the left over radical vs. liberal ideologies.
I feel Berube nit picks at what are essentially rhetorical arguments between the democratic liberal left (of which he sees himself) and the more radical left that he sees Chomsky as symptomatic of. While there are qualitative differences that exist between the two, Berube focuses on very small debates between Chomsky and others in the pages of Z Magazine and the internet rather than paying attention to the larger role Chomsky plays in the American Left and his ability to galvanize widespread support for left-leaning ideas. Berube spends more time engaging in very nuanced discussions than looking at the effect Chomsky and the like have had in the popular imaginary.
Still, the book is very enjoyable for anyone already familiar with debates in the left over radical vs. liberal ideologies.
Read
August 3, 2011Berube provides an excellent critique of what he calls the "Manichean left," pointing out important failures in analysis of internationalism, genocide and human rights by a vocal segment of the American left. Berube turns to an analysis of cultural theorist Stuart Hall to argue for an alternative approach towards looking at issues like ideology, cultural studies and social change. (Anyone who revisits the importance of Stuart Hall is okay by me.) I thought the book over-relied on block quotes, and dwelt too much on analysts from the boys club (with the exception of Ellen Willis). This work would have been strengthened by drawing from feminist thinkers and others on the left who still get marginalized by the left, Manichean and otherwise. Still, this is an important, if belated, work for progressives/leftists and those working for social change.
May 13, 2010
Very interesting book on the growing Manichean Left. I recommend it to all those who are interested in, firstly, the Left that is interested in blaming the West for all of its problems, and secondly, for those who are interested in politics. Berube does tend to get on a bit of a rant when it comes to Chomsky (rightly, I would think) but it does get a bit distracting. Either way, I enjoyed this book. I read it for Literary Theory and I found the ideas that he presents quite fascinating. It was a hard read, but well worth it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews