Review of Corey Robin's The Reactionary Mind (2nd edition)
The political Left today is resurgent, led by a newly galvanized Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd’s death on Memorial Day. Massive protests erupted across the country (perhaps because COVID-19 had canceled most people’s summer vacation plans), including Seattle, where protestors faced down police and claimed the Capitol Hill section. Leaders at some of the country’s most prestigious universities have fallen over themselves to issue statements condemning racism and affirming that black lives matter (sometimes with capitalization). Princeton University announced that it would rename the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs as well as Wilson College (Wilson served as president of Princeton University from 1902-10), and the American Political Science Association is considering renaming the award that bears his name (Wilson served as president of APSA from 1909-10), due to Wilson’s “ racist thinking and policies .” NAS...