The Myth of Left and Right

Michael E. Hartmann, Philanthropy Daily A short, tightly argued, question-provoking "attempt to give a more accurate conception of ideology in America and thereby correct common misunderstandings of ideology among the general public and among the intellectuals who promote these confusions," as they themselves put it in the book.

Arthur C. Brooks, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Finally, an antidote to political despair in America. Using the best data and social science, Hyrum Lewis and Verlan Lewis show us why our current polarization is not inevitable and how it can be resolved. If you ever wondered if our nation can ever unite again, read The Myth of Left and Right today.

David R. Mayhew, Sterling Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Yale University Is there a timeless ideological dimension that US political life maps onto? No! This book offers a deft, spirited deconstruction of that idea. It is an enjoyable read.

Frances Lee, Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, Princeton University This timely book challenges entrenched ways of thinking about American politics. Even if readers do not agree with the authors on every point, they cannot ignore the powerful critiques lodged here. The authors rightfully demand that we transcend simplistic understandings of political alignments that conflate party and ideology and that fail to come to terms with how the definitions of 'right' and 'left' continually evolve over time.

Philip E. Tetlock, Annenberg University Professor, University of Pennsylvania An insightful dissection of the misleading notion that it is possible-without severe distortion-to reduce voters and politicians to points along a one-dimensional left-right scale.

Lee Trepanier, Russell Kirk Center The Myth of Left and Right is a quirky but much needed book for today's conversation about how to push past our differences, disagreements, and political polarization. It is scholarly but accessible and something easily read in an afternoon. While it is short, its impact hopefully will be longer, for our Country demands such a book in a time when words like "left" and "right" are not only accusatory labels we paste onto people but, as Lewis and Lewis have shown, essentially meaningless.

Lee Trepanier, Chair and Professor of Political Science at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama The Myth of Left and Right is a quirky but much needed book for today's conversation about how to push past our differences, disagreements, and political polarization.

Choice The book is a useful instrument for stimulating much-needed thought and debate about the ideological spectrum in the US.

Hyrum Lewis is an associate professor of history at Brigham Young University-Idaho. He received his PhD from the University of Southern California and was previously a visiting scholar at Stanford University. Verlan Lewis is a visiting Scholar in the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Stirling Professor of Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University. He received graduate degrees from Cambridge University and the University of Virginia and did postdoctoral work in the Stanford University Department of Political Science. He is also the author of Ideas of Power: The Politics of American Party Ideology Development (2019).

Introduction Chapter 1: The Myth of Left and Right Chapter 2: The Origins of Left and Right Chapter 3: The Development of Left and Right Chapter 4: The "Authentic" Left and Right Chapter 5: The Persistence of Left and Right Chapter 6: The Consequences of Left and Right Chapter 7: The Future of Left and Right Conclusion Notes Index