The left is likely to dominate the 21st century, and there is little the right can do about this except adapt. This seems counter-intuitive in light of the modest success the left has enjoyed since the great financial crisis of 2008-09. Though Democrats have done well in recent presidential elections, progressives have found themselves unable to move their most important policies forward, suffering through an endless series of battles with a determined and extreme Republican party. This has only been exacerbated by stunning Republican gains in recent congressional elections. But this short-sighted perspective overemphasizes the role of crisis and underestimates the role of long-term fundamental change. The Optimistic Leftist takes a look at the structural and economic shifts remaking advanced societies and shows that the left is in a far better position to advance its agenda than the right. Eventually, the right will be forced to play on the left's terms to be competitive. This is because only the left has growing, not declining, coalitional strength and only the left is willing to confront and solve capitalism's "Piketty problem" (a vicious cycle of rising inequality, stagnating living standards and slowing economic growth) by building a new equitable-growth "opportunity state."

A much-needed wake-up call for the Democrats, which reveals how the party has lost sight of its core principles and endangered its political future--from the authors of "one of the most influential political books of the 21st century" (The New York Times) For decades, American politics has been plagued by a breakdown between the Democratic and Republican parties, in which victory has inevitably led to defeat and vice versa. Both parties have lost sight of the people at the center of the American electorate, leading to polarization and paralysis. In Where Have All the Democrats Gone?, John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira reveal the tectonic changes shaping the country's current political landscape that both pundits and political scientists have missed. The Democratic Party, once the preserve of small towns as well as big cities and of the industrial working class and the newly immigrated, has abandoned and even actively alienated many of these voters. In this clarion call and essential argument for common sense and common ground, Judis and Teixeira reveal the transformation of American politics and provide a razor-sharp critique of where the Democrats have gone awry and how they can avoid political disaster in the days ahead.

"Why Americans Don't Vote is a well-crafted and well-executed piece of research. It stands as the best treatment of the topic, a topic that has received a good deal of attention. I recommend this book highly, both to those interested in understanding political participation and to those interested in modelling change in attitudes and behaviors generally." Contemporary Sociology