Reviews for If I had a hammer

The average rating for If I had a hammer based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-08-21 00:00:00 Rich Thomas Maurice Isserman doesn't get a lot of play among left circles, but there's really no other author I'm aware of who's done as good of a job laying out the history of the American left in the twentieth century in compelling, readable prose as him.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-09-12 00:00:00 Tamberlynn Kroeck if you are interested in a history of the left and, more importantly, the continuity between the old left and the new left this book is for you. this continuity is not often written about when discussing the 60's or the new left in general but it is there. however, and this is what is more useful about this book, the new left was not open to the ideas and methods of the old left which had become somewhat brittle and didactic after weathering the intense storm of mccarthyism and the corrosive effect stalinism. the new left could've benefited from the contributions and historical knowledge of the old left and the ossified orgs of the old left could've benefited from the influx of youth based in the new left. this history is even more important now because i see parallels between the existing far left groups and the old left and between the occupy movement activists and the new left groups that came on the scene in the late 50's and early 60's.