Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2026-05-05
Books mentioned on The Book That Changed How I Think About Liberalism | The Ezra Klein Show
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Lost History of Liberalism
The Lost History of Liberalism by Helena Rosenblatt is a comprehensive reinterpretation of the history, evolution, and shifting definitions of liberal thought.
Recommended“Helena Rosenblatt is a professor at the CUNY Graduate Center. She's the author of Liberal Values, Benjamin Constant and the Politics of Religion, as well as the aforementioned The Lost History of Liberalism, which I highly recommend.”
Where to get it
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Liberalism
Discussed“One of the other books on the Wilson I've quite liked is Edmund Fawcett's Liberalism the Life of an Idea I think is the subtitle. And he makes more than you do of the idea that central to liberalism is the idea that in a conflict-ridden disputatious society that you can turn difference into something constructive”
Where to get it
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Liberalism against Itself
Liberalism against Itself by Samuel Moyn is an intellectual history that examines the trajectory of Cold War liberalism and the ideological shifts that shaped modern political thought.
Recommended“I don't know if you know his work. I think he's coming out with a new book that I'm looking forward to, but I would like to recommend liberalism against itself, which really picks up on some of the themes also for my last chapter and it's about Cold War liberalism and sort of why we went wrong in the”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Liberal Values
“Helena Rosenblatt is a professor at the CUNY Graduate Center. She's the author of Liberal Values, Benjamin Constant and the Politics of Religion, as well as the aforementioned The Lost History of Liberalism, which I highly recommend.”