The Politics of Bad Faith: The Radical Assault on America's Future

DH is a former communist who has traversed the ideological landscape from the left to the conservative right. His analysis and critique of Marxism and radical left-wing thought is all the more telling because of his own experience. Communism is often the aspiration of the young and foolish, while those who are older dread its recurrence.

I think that this book's critique of what is wrong with the political left is very insightful, so this book is worth reading. At the risk of radically oversimplifying it, he argues that with the collapse of Marxism as a viable political theory, the left no longer really has any idea of what they are fighting for. But they still do know what they are against: capitalism, individualism, and bourgeois democracy. So they have effectively become nihilists, dedicated to tearing down the existing social order without any real vision of what they want to replace it with.

For its critique of the left I'd give this book 4 stars. But I happen to disagree with some of Horowitz's solutions to this so I'm rating it at only 3 1/2

In this book Mr. Horowitz explains what's deeply wrong with the liberal reasoning, and why. Having been one of the most important New Left intellectuals of the 60's, as well as a distinguished Civil Rights activist (what he continues to be), and now turned to libertarian and conservative thinking, he speaks from direct personal experience. A must read!