Note: This is an encore edition of Reader's Corner. The episode originally aired in July 2022.
The neoliberal order that emerged in America in the 1970s fused ideas of deregulation with personal freedoms, open borders with cosmopolitanism, and globalization with the promise of increased prosperity for all.
In his latest book, The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era, award-winning historian Gary Gerstle illustrates the story of the neoliberal order's fall, originating in the failed reconstruction of Iraq and Great Recession of the Bush years and culminating in the rise of Trump and a reinvigorated Bernie Sanders-led American left in the 2010’s.
Gary Gerstle is Paul Mellon Professor of American History Emeritus and Director of Research at the University of Cambridge. He is the author and editor of more than ten books, including American Crucible and Liberty and Coercion. He is a Guardian columnist and frequently appears on BBC and NPR.
