Centrists of the World Unite!
The Lost Genius of Liberalism
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
Published:12th Mar '26
Should be back in stock very soon
From the acclaimed author of The Aristocracy of Talent: the history, enduring genius and vital importance today of liberalism
We live in an age of extremes: populist leaders are setting the agenda, autocracies are on the march, and the liberal establishment is a bewildered blob, devoid of new ideas or fresh solutions. Having once powered progress in the form of democracy, mass welfare and defeating totalitarianism, liberals have the power to save the world again – but only if they rediscover the lost genius of their creed.
Guiding us skilfully and entertainingly through the intellectual, cultural and political histories of liberalism, this book lays out a centrist agenda for today’s problems. It reminds us of the dynamism and fixed principles that have shaped the successes of liberalism and warns us against splitting into sub-groups that fail to grapple with the common good. Wooldridge proposes that, as well as reviving social mobility, liberals today need to be much more critical of big business – particularly if it makes money by manipulating choices and spreading misinformation – and rethink the laissez-faire approach to immigration, social disorder, and substance abuse.
A powerful call to action, Centrists of the World Unite! shows us how liberals of all parties and none can come together in defending the values of liberal civilization from enemies without and within.
Ambitious ... Wooldridge [is] the Bagehot of our day. His narrative is persuasive, his diagnosis of the malaise of the Western elites is fresh and he offers convincing reasons for believing that “the lost genius of liberalism” will make a comeback. ... [He] wants to rid liberals of their taste for extremism, to persuade them to take populism seriously and take the fight to the autocrats. He denies that liberalism is shallow or banal, as its critics from Carlyle to Houellebecq have scoffed. He has done an outstanding job of making a fresh, compelling case for liberalism -- Daniel Johnson * Critic *
Wooldridge ... is what you might call a muscular Whig, someone who believes in the idea of progress and liberal democracy as our best shot at human flourishing -- Josh Glancy * Sunday Times *
In Centrists of the World Unite, Adrian Wooldridgecarefully locates a crisis both within and without liberalism. [His] approach is refreshing ... [the book is] entertaining, eerie, and [provides] a piercing look at where societies and economies find themselves — which is, ultimately, quite a mess. There is no doubt that liberalism has found itself at a crossroads ... this [book] enables us to think about how it can recover -- Samuel Mace * Critic *
For a one-volume history of a rich and complicated subject, you can’t do better -- Jonathan Rauch * Unpopulist *
ISBN: 9780241758700
Dimensions: 244mm x 165mm x 38mm
Weight: 636g
416 pages