An ominous prophecy for liberalism

In this American moment of political, cultural, and economic turbulence and anxiety, we do not lack for explanations of the cause. Rising inequality, persistent racism and xenophobia, technologically fueled ideological polarization — these and many other theories can be found in a slew of opinion columns, essays, academic studies, and books.

There's some truth in most of them, no doubt. But none of them can match the power of the breathtakingly radical explanation contained in Patrick Deneen's Why Liberalism Failed, which is probably why the just-published book has already received so much attention in the pages of The New York Times.