Mark Lilla, " The Once And Future Liberal" (with Sean Iling)

Expanding on his New York Times op-ed piece, “The End of Identity Liberalism,” published just days after Trump’s election, Lilla argues that 2016 marked the end of a political era. While the right faces the deterioration of libertarianism into populist demagoguery, the left has to admit that identity politics has failed. To reinvigorate the Democratic Party and achieve real political change, progressives must stop relying on symbolic politics and pursuing narrow social movements. Instead, Democrats have to focus on encouraging solidarity and developing an expansive vision of national destiny, one grounded in building a government that helps all Americans. Lilla, Professor of Humanities at Columbia and a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books and other publications, has written a well-reasoned analysis of liberalism’s last two decades and a bracing polemic for the future.

Lilla is in conversation with Sean Illing, interviews writer for Vox.

Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online. Visit them on the web at

Produced by Tom Warren