A Thousand Small Sanities
A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism is a non-fiction book about liberalism written by American writer Adam Gopnik. It was published by Basic Books on May 14, 2019, to mixed reviews.
Summary
The premise of the book is that liberalism and liberals are under attack, from both the right and the left. It argues that liberalism is more than "political centrism or the idea of free markets" and thus is an overarching concern for "positive, inclusive changes at all social and political levels," through which Gopnik attempts to clarify the definition of "liberalism".Themes
The book explores concepts surrounding liberalism, pragmatism, humanism, and conservatism. After covering the roots of liberalism and conservatism, the book discusses historical people that are deemed liberal in the present, but who were not deemed liberals in their own time, avoiding popular liberal references of 17-18th century Western philosophers and Founding Fathers in favor of figures such as Harriet Taylor, Frederick Douglass, Emma Goldman, Bayard Rustin, George Eliot, and E. D. Morel, among others.Gopnik also argues for incremental, inclusive liberalism, and that engaging in the "extremes of the far-left" will attempt "to define liberty for everyone"—an attitude he argues has historically resulted in the formation of totalitarian regimes. The book attempts to steer Democrats away from 2020-era progressive policies and towards a liberalism that is "sensible, skeptical, cautious, reformist, and moderate—a path to centrist "political safety" between the so-called extremes of the left and the right.