Monday, we’re talking about the history of socialism in the United States. Our guest is historian Michael Kazin, who says though self-described democratic socialist presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is unlikely to win, his campaign isn’t ridiculous. Kazin explains that Sanders is just the latest socialist candidate to highlight issues that “discomfort the comfortable.” We’ll ask why socialism never really took hold in the U.S. and what it’s nevertheless contributed to American political life.
Michael Kazin is a Professor of History at Georgetown University in Washington DC. He's also editor of Dissent, a left-wing political magazine published quarterly. Kazin is author of five books. His latest is American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation [Amazon|Indiebound]