Right center left : essays in American history

For the past fifteen years, Leo Ribuffo has been among the leading disputants writing on the most pressing issues of American religion and politics. He is a scholar and a writer in the tradition of Warren Susman: deliberate and provocative at the 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 clichŽs about men, women, and movements across the American political and cultural spectrum. Ribuffo ranges from New England during the Reformation, to Madison Avenue during the 1920s, to Hollywood during the Depression, to Eastern Europe during the Cold War. On the right, nativists like Josiah Strong and Henry Ford are explained in historical context. On the left, American Communism looks more complicated than either orthodox critics or recent revisionists suppose. In the center, Hallie Flanagan's Federal Theatre Project reveals the limits of the 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 the minds of the bigots and the hucksters who pervade American history.