The Conscience of a Liberal

Paul Krugman’s The Conscience of a Liberal is a work of political economy that traces the arc of American inequality across the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. It posits a "Long Gilded Age" stretching from the late nineteenth century through the 1920s, characterized by vast wealth disparities and minimal social protections. This era was decisively interrupted not by impersonal market forces, but by the political triumph of the New Deal, which Krugman argues forged a "Great Compression" of income and created a stable, broad-based middle class that lasted for a generation.

The book’s core analytical thrust is to dismantle the myth that this middle-class society eroded naturally due to globalization or technology. Instead, Krugman meticulously details the rise of "movement conservatism"—a disciplined, well-funded political project that, from the 1970s onward, systematically worked to roll back New Deal achievements. This movement, he argues, weaponized social issues like race and religion to achieve its primary economic goal: tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation of industry, and the erosion of labor power, thereby deliberately re-engineering the high inequality of a new Gilded Age.

Krugman weaves together economic data, political history, and sociological observation to demonstrate how this engineered inequality then fueled intense political polarization. The book is ultimately a call to action, arguing that the path forward requires understanding this history not as destiny but as the result of political choices. He frames the pursuit of universal healthcare not merely as a policy goal, but as the potential cornerstone for a "new New Deal," a tangible demonstration of government’s capacity to improve lives and a catalyst for rebuilding a liberal consensus.

The work is aimed at readers seeking to understand the roots of contemporary political strife and economic anxiety. It stands as Krugman’s most explicitly political and historical volume, an attempt to provide a coherent narrative for the Democratic Party and a policy roadmap for reversing what he sees as a decades-long, ideologically-driven assault on the American middle class.

Readers respect Krugman’s lucid economic history and forceful thesis but find the 2007 publication date severely dates its political prognostication. The consensus holds that the book’s diagnosis of rising inequality remains prescient and powerfully argued, yet its optimistic predictions about the imminent decline of movement conservatism and race-baiting politics have been undermined by subsequent events. Many note a poignant, even sad, disconnect between its hopeful roadmap and the more turbulent political reality that followed.