Themes in New Left Histories

Abstract

This article discusses some of the themes in the New Left’s approach to history, highlighting common themes, addressing criticisms of the movement’s approach to history, raising certain issues with the New Left’s approach to history, and suggesting ways forward given the rise of importance for the New Left’s approach given modern social movements. The four common themes are 1) are
a rejection of corporate liberalism, 2) approaching history from the bottom up, 3) a rejection of U.S. power projection in international relations, and 4) a rejection of a certain form of intellectualism, and an appreciation for Marxist interpretations of history that focused on class, economics, and bourgeois society inside and out of the academy.