The Change I Believe In: Fighting for Progress in the Age of Obama

Nation editor vanden Heuvel lays down the left-liberal line in these earnest, stolid essays culled from her columns and editorials in the magazine. It’s a newsy compendium that covers the past three years of roiling politics while advancing recurring themes: the need to rein in Wall Street, tax the rich, create green jobs, pull out of Afghanistan, get money out of politics and Republicans out of office. It’s also an anguished narrative of the left’s disillusionment with Obama, lapsing from hope to disappointment as the president proffers one cave-in after another to intransigent conservatives. Vanden Heuvel isn’t much of a stylist, unfortunately. There are few surprises or grace notes in her prose; as her statistically fortified arguments proceed from problem to policy to exhortation—“It is a time for global, non-violent challenge to anti-democratic forces wherever they may be.” Still, there’s much to be said for her well-supported, fact-filled account: vanden Heuvel elaborates a cogent progressive alternative to the skewed choice between banker-friendly Democrats and Tea Party fanatics. (Nov.)