Right Center Left: Essays in American History.

Abstract

For past fifteen years, Leo Ribuffo has been among leading disputants writing on most pressing issues of American religion and politics. He is a scholar and a writer in tradition of Warren Susman: deliberate and provocative at same time. This collection of his best work reaffirms what his many readers already know, that his is a unique and refreshing voice that is sure to cause controversy. This book contains seven essays (all revised for this volume) and an introduction on the complexity of American history that is, in itself, an important statement. Right Center Left challenges clichZs about men, women, and movements across American political and cultural spectrum. Ribuffo ranges from New England during Reformation, to Madison Avenue during 1920s, to Hollywood during Depression, to Eastern Europe during Cold War. On right, nativists like Josiah Strong and Henry Ford are explained in historical context. On left, American Communism looks more complicated than either orthodox critics or recent revisionists suppose. In center, Hallie Flanagan's Federal Theatre Project reveals limits of New Deal, ad man Bruce Barton emerges as a shrewd corporate capitalist instead of a naive positive thinker, President Gerald R. Ford appears as a thoughtful Cold Warrior instead of a chronic bumbler, and President Jimmy Carter governs as an able lay theologian instead of a provincial source of national malaise. What unites these essays is Leo Ribuffo's unique style, clarity of mind and purpose, and revealing insights into minds of bigots and hucksters who pervade American history.