Why Not Moderation?

Letters to Young Radicals

Aurelian Craiutu

Moderation is often presented as a simple virtue for lukewarm and indecisive minds, searching for a fuzzy center between the extremes. Not surprisingly, many politicians do not want to be labelled ‘moderates’ for fear of losing elections. Why Not Moderation? challenges this conventional image and shows that moderation is a complex virtue with a rich tradition and unexplored radical sides. Through a series of imaginary letters between a passionate moderate and two young radicals, the book outlines the distinctive political vision undergirding moderation and makes a case for why we need this virtue today in America. Drawing on clearly written and compelling sources, Craiutu offers an opportunity to rethink moderation and participate in the important public debate on what kind of society we want to live in. His book reminds us that we cannot afford to bargain away the liberal civilization and open society we have inherited from our forefathers.

Aurelian Craiutu is Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington. His publications include Liberalism under Siege (2003), A Virtue for Courageous Minds (2012), and Faces of Moderation (2017). Professor Craiutu has also written book reviews and essays for non-academic publications such as Los Angeles Review of Books, Aeon, and The Daily Beast

Advance praise

‘For far too long, “moderate” has been a label used in political discourse as a term of derision, meant to imply weakness and lack of conviction, which is nonsense. Thank you Aurelian Craiutu for producing an overdue, well-researched, witty and robust defense of the ideas of those of us – a plurality – who aren’t represented by those partisan extremists with outsized influence.’

Michael Smerconish, SiriusXM and CNN host

‘What could be more radical in our polarized era than a spirited defense of political and intellectual moderation? In this bold and eloquently written book, Aurelian Craiutu engages the most potent arguments of the anti-liberal Left and Right, all the while at once making the case for a more moderate approach and enacting it right before our eyes. Whether you’re tempted by the extremes or looking to maintain your equilibrium through the ideological turbulence of our times, the book is invaluable.’

Damon Linker, author of “Eyes on the Right” on Substack

UK publication October 2023

US publication October 2023

260 pages

9781108494953 Hardback

£18.99 | $24.95 USD | $28.95 CAD

At a glance

• Explains the political vision of moderation as well as its spirit and style and describes moderation as a radical and complex virtue for courageous minds

• Explains how moderation transcends the conventional distinctions between Left and Right, liberalism and conservatism, while creatively combining tropes from each

• Written in a form of a dialogue and letters addressed to two young radicals from the Left and the Right, the book explains how it is possible to be a “radical moderate” in an age of extremes and high polarization

9781009172530

£25.00 | $27.95 USD | $31.95 CAD

At a glance

• Expands on the notion that we are still living in LBJ’s America

• Provokes readers to consider the ways in which mid-century American liberalism and the controversies of the 1960s resonate in the 2020s

• Brings together top historians of the 1960s to create an accessible overview of LBJ’s America

• Marks the fiftieth anniversary of LBJ’s death by reconsidering his life, impact and legacies

• Differs from other recent biographies of LBJ by emphasizing the impact of his policymaking and legislative initiatives