The Reactionary Spirit, Zack Beauchamp
The Reactionary Spirit, Zack Beauchamp
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The Reactionary Spirit
How America's Most Insidious Political Tradition Swept the World

Author: Zack Beauchamp

Narrator: Justin Price

Unabridged: 8 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 07/16/2024

Synopsis

With keen insight, Vox journalist Zack Beauchamp traces how a reactionary antidemocratic ethos born and bred in America has come to infect democracies around the world.

There is a fundamental contradiction at the heart of American politics that has endured since our nation’s birth. In The Reactionary Spirit, Zack Beauchamp explains what he calls the reactionary spirit: as strides towards true democracy are made, there is always a faction that reacts by seeking to undermine them and thereby resist change.   

Brilliantly combining political history and reportage, Beauchamp reveals how the United States was the birthplace of this strange and harrowing authoritarian style, and why we’re now seeing its evolution in diverse nations including Hungary, Israel, and India. 

The Reactionary Spirit paints a vivid, alarming picture that illuminates not only what’s happening to democracy globally, but also what we must do to protect it—while we still can.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Gianni on December 06, 2024

Il lato oscuro della democrazia. In questo testo Zack Beauchamp legge la crisi della democrazia e della società attuali alla luce di un fattore insito nella democrazia stessa, definito spirito reazionario, il cui manifestarsi da luogo alle forme di autoritarismo competitivo che Stati Uniti, Israele,......more

Goodreads review by Logan on March 12, 2024

Spoilers: it's slavery. The Reactionary Mind looks at the authoritarian turn taking place in otherwise well-established democracies worldwide, and looks for answers, why it is happening and what can be done to stop it. It stakes an impressively focused claim, namely that reactionary politics arise ou......more

Goodreads review by Mirissa on December 27, 2024

I found my mind wandering quite a bit, especially for the first 100 pages or so that talked about what exactly the “reactionary spirit” is and its causes. While this was clearly well researched and was not poorly written, I just couldn’t get into it. I was able to stay more interested in the text on......more

Goodreads review by Joseph on July 22, 2024

This is a very good book that nicely balances argumentative rigor with accessibility for a wide audience. I've been following ZB's balanced, well-informed political commentary for a few years, and it was nice to see this book summarize a lot of his ideas. ZB argues that we are currently seeing a glob......more

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