Michael Kazin: Historian of American Politics and Social Movements

Author. Scholar. Public intellectual.

A Georgetown University historian, Emeritus editor of Dissent, and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His books have received the Elise Boulding Prize and been named Editor's Choice by The New York Times Book Review.

Essays & Commentary

As a regular contributor to The New York Times, The Nation, Dissent, and other publications, Michael Kazin brings historical perspective to the political debates of today.

  • "I began my career as a labor historian. And when I started drafting my dissertation, I decided to adopt a nine-to-five schedule, to emulate the actual wage earners I was writing about (well, most got to the job site earlier than that). I still try to be at my desk during those hours—with time off for lunch. But life—and my dog lobbying for an early afternoon walk—does sometimes get in the way."

    THE WRITER'S STUDIO
    with Michael Kazin

    Modern American History, Cambridge University Press

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  • "I spent two years of my life as a revolutionary in a country where most people loathed the very idea of social upheaval. I don’t regret what I did from 1968 to 1970, although I realize I may have played a small, if unintentional, part in speeding the right’s path to national power. "

    What I Saw at the Revolution That Didn’t Happen 
    Memoirs of a Weatherman.

    Dissent Magazine

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  • "Against the radical, if utterly reactionary, experiment being run from the White House and cheered on by the MAGA faithful, everyone from Democratic leaders in Congress to the hosts at MSNBC—and even some writers for magazines like this one—resort to an anxious defense of prominent institutions."

    How the American Left Became Conservative
    Against the radical, if reactionary, experiment run from the White House, everyone from Democratic leaders in Congress to MSNBC hosts have turned to the defense of institutions.

    The Nation

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  • "In July 1925, John Scopes faced a jury in a stifling courtroom in Dayton, Tenn. A 24-year-old teacher, he stood accused of violating the Butler Act, a recently enacted state law that forbade teaching the theory of evolution because it contradicted the Bible."

    This ‘Trial of the Century’ Is 100. Its Lessons Could Save the Democrats.
    Guest Essay

    The New York Times

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  • "Communist party members and their close allies took the lead in forming the first independent unions of writers, actors, and craftsmen—and sponsored such groups as the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League, whose events drew thousands of participants and widespread media attention."

    This Land Is Our Land
    The Popular Front and American culture.

    National Endowment For The Humanities

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Books

Michael Kazin has written seven books and edited three on subjects ranging from the American left, populism, movements for labor and for peace, and the potential and limits of democratic politics.

THE POPULIST PERSUASION
2017 JWMJ 2017 JWMJ

THE POPULIST PERSUASION

“Michael Kazin provides a rich and thoughtful account of the evolution of populist rhetoric on the left and the right in American politics in the past century.”

—The New Republic

“Kazin shows populism’s canny ability to mix homespun rhetoric and political savvy. The book explains something very important in American life with scrupulous fairness and a keen eye for the humanizing detail.”

—Wall Street Journal

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