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Can the Left and the Right Tell Their Right from Their Left?
Three books on the dysfunctional present and uncertain future of American politics.
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This edition is sponsored by Zondervan Reflective
Over the past decade, the rise of movements like MAGA and the Democratic Socialists of America have profoundly changed the landscape of American politics. It’s perhaps natural to wonder, as America celebrates its 250th birthday, what’s next for the United States. In this week’s newsletter, CT political correspondent Harvest Prude takes a look at three books on American politics. Two are fascinating mirrors of each other—a conservative and a progressive looking at what’s gone wrong within their own parties and trying to map out a new future—while the third is a time capsule of the political past.
Happy Reading,
Taylor Berglund
Senior Features Editor, Christianity Today
A portion of this newsletter appeared as a column at Christianity Today. Join CT for full access to all our journalism.
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Three Books on Politics & Public Life
Stephanie Slade, Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right (University of Notre Dame Press, 2026)
In her new book, Stephanie Slade dusts off the idea of “fusionism,” which defined American conservatism for decades but has been near forgotten and long neglected in today’s bruising era of politics. Slade, herself a devout Catholic and libertarian, defines fusionism as the marriage of the Judeo-Christian moral tradition and classical liberalism. For years, conservatives held that virtue fused with liberty is essential for a well-ordered society and human flourishing. No longer, Slade holds. In a time when both sides of t