Imagining the Possible

Stephen Eric Bronner is Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University. He serves on the editorial boards of the journals New Politics and New Political Science. He is the author of editor of fifteen books, including Moments of Decision (Routledge, 1992), which won APSA's Michael Harrington Book Award.

"The notions of socialism, democracy, & internationalism, & the contributions of various activists & intellectuals in these areas, are analyzed to determine whether social & political change is possible in the contemporary world. Several 20th-century events & movements that significantly influenced leftist politics are studied." -- J.W. Parker, Sociological Abstracts"Wonderfully rich, unpredictable, and nuanced, these essays call us back to a way of thinking radically that, had the American left only reckoned with it better, might have kept many of us more engaged. With acuity and candor, Stephen Eric Bronner leavens his pragmatism with a humanist idealism that reintroduces hope to politics." -- Jim Sleeper, The Closest of Strangers and LiberalRacism"In this classy and engaging collection, Bronner helps keep alive a critical reflection threatened by both antiquarian Marxists and policy wonks." -- Russell Jacoby, UCLA, and author of The End of Utopia

• Introductio Part I:Socialism and Freedom 1.The Socialist Project 2.Persistent Memories:Jewish Activists and the German Revolution of 1919 3.Confronting Nationalism 4.The Sickness Unto Death:International Communism Before the Deluge 5.Looking Backwards:1968 Thirty Years After Part II:Words and Needs 1.Red Dreams and the New Millennium:Remarks on Rosa Luxemborg 2.The Limits of Metatheory:Political Reflections on the Dialectics of Enlightenment 3.Foundations for a Spirit of Resistance:the War Diaries by Jean-Paul Sartre 4.Remembering Henry Pachter Poltics and Judgement Part III:Democracy and its Challenges 1.Transforming the State 2.Ecology, Politics, and Risk The Angst of Affirmative Action 4.Neo-Conservatism and the New Right in the United States and Abroad 5.Intellectuals, Democracy, and Society