The Path to Paralysis: How American Politics Became Nasty, Dysfunctional, and a Threat to the Republic

by Donald G. Nieman

Overview

How did the world’s oldest democracy lose its mojo? How did we get to a point where we face existential crises like climate change yet leaders can’t agree that there’s a problem let alone develop solutions? Political leaders bear some of the responsibility. Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, to name a few, have shattered political norms and transformed our politics into a free-for-all in which personal attacks, appeals to bigotry and fear, disregard for truth, and disdain for governing have become the norm. But they are more a symptom than the cause. The Path to Paralysis examines changes in political culture during the past 60 years – conflict over race, religion and gender; wrenching economic changes and growing concentration of wealth; the end of the Cold War; hardening regional divisions; and dramatic changes in communications – that made Donald Trump possible, if not inevitable. Long in the making, these cross-currents came together in the early 21st century – as the United States experienced the deepest recession since the 1930s and elected its first Black president – to create the perfect storm. The result was toxic and deeply polarised politics that threatened the existence of constitutional government.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781839992766
Publisher:	Anthem Press
Publication date:	10/15/2024
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Donald G. Nieman is an authority on modern U.S. law and politics, and professor of history and provost emeritus at Binghamton University– State University of New York.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Introduction; CHAPTER 1: 1964; CHAPTER 2: The Liberal Consensus Under Fire, 1965–1969; CHAPTER 3: Conflict, Crisis, and Continuity, 1969–1976;  CHAPTER 4: A New Right Emerges, 1972–1980; CHAPTER 5: Reagan: The Revolution That Wasn’t—and Was, 1980–1988; CHAPTER 6: Conservatives at the Crossroads, 1988–1992; CHAPTER 7: Ideological Convergence and Political Polarization, 1992–2000; CHAPTER 8: The Lost Opportunity, 2000–2008; CHAPTER 9: The Tipping Point, 2008–2012; CHAPTER 10: Reaping the Whirlwind, 2013–2016; CHAPTER 11: American Carnage, 2016–2020; CHAPTER 12: “A republic, if you can keep it”; Conclusion; Bibliographical Essay; Index

Editorial Reviews

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Midwest

“Writing the history of the present is a difficult challenge but in The Path to Paralysis, Donald Nieman gives us a lucid, well-informed, and persuasive narrative of the last half century of American political and social life. Anyone who wonders how the United States got from the Great Society to the 2021 Capitol insurrection will find compelling answers in this book.” — Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History, Columbia University, USA.

Don Nieman has produced a compelling account of the dead-end American politics has now reached. How could a political system that produced John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, who went to the moon and strove for a Great Society, have been the same system that also produced Newt Gingrich and Donald J. Trump? How could a vibrant, if often contentious system of democratic politics 60 years ago have given way to the gridlock and stasis that confront the United States at the end of the first quarter of the twenty-first century? Nieman guides his readers, in this graceful text, from the Democratic triumph of 1964 to the dilemmas of our body politic in 2024. If you want to experience how a first-rate historical analysis can give meaning to the near collapse of democratic politics in 2024, this book is a must-read for you.” —Stan Katz, Lecturer w/rank Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA.

“The most urgent and frightening threat to this nation’s democracy—and indeed its future—is our deep, intractable political divide. Prof. Nieman’s, The Path to Paralysis, recounts the nation’s journey to political dysfunction with sobering accuracy. Will the Republic hold? Wisely answered, ‘[...]we can’t be sure.’ ” —Robert S. Smith, Harry G. John Professor of History, Marquette University, USA.

A timely, articulate, and informative contribution toward understanding how the American body politic became so polarized that there is now a real threat to our American style democracy collapsing into an authoritarian state and/or a second civil war, "The Path to Paralysis: How American Politics Became Nasty, Dysfunctional, and a Threat to the Republic" is a significant, critically important, and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, governmental, and college/university library Contemporary Political Science collections and supplemental Civics/Citizenship curriculum studies lists. — Midwest

From the Publisher