RADI-~----SOAP OPERA
David Zane Mail'owitz
The American Left in the 20th century...
"American Leftists, whether old, new, Marxist–
Leninists, Trotskyites, Maoists or freaks, are
Americans first and foremost. And despite its inter–
nationalist claims and lip-service to an occasional
theoretical approach, the U.S. Left, in all its incarna–
tions, owes as much homage to the B-movie as to
Karl Marx:'
from THE RADICAL SOAP OPERA
When seen as a hybrid dimension of tragi-comic theater. the American
Left emerges as a misdirected and often miscast soap opera of zealots
and zanies who
in
many ways have yet to
equa!
the challenge that con–
fronts them.
Mairowitz
offers a
witty.
relevant and totally original approach to half a
century of political activity
in
America and reviews a stdI'studded cast
(from Left to Right)
in
the light of their attempted roles:Tun
Leary,
Sigmund Freud, Sacco and Vanzetti, John Garfield, Wilhelm Reich, the
Rosenbergs,Walt Whitman, Benjamin Speck, Joe McCarthy, Richard
Nixon - plus a supporting cast of thousands.
"It's a fresh and witty survey, and I think the
conclusions are correct:'
Marcus Cunliffe
