"Engrossing… It is an exhilarating pleasure to lose yourself in this old-fashioned example of original historical scholarship. Fear Itself is a sprawling, ambitious book that offers illuminating insights on nearly every page. Among Katznelson’s gifts is the one most valuable to readers and most in danger of extinction in the American academy: He writes clear, energetic prose without a whiff of academic jargon or pretension… Entertaining and enlightening."
Robert G. Kaiser - Washington Post "Ambitious, fascinating, and slightly dark… [Katznelson’s] account of how a belief in the common good gave way to a central government dominated by interest-group politics and obsessed with national security."
Louis Menand - New Yorker "Brilliant."
Scott Lemieux - American Prospect "A provocative look at how modern America—created three-quarters of a century ago by the very Southern barons who were so important a part of the New Deal —was shaped. We think of history as a settled thing, tucked safely in a faraway past. This book is a reminder of how very surprising it can be."
David Shribman - Boston Globe "An excellent work of synthesis about the political and economic terms of the New Deal. . . . Powerful and well-paced . . . anyone wanting an intelligent guide to the ideas that still shape its place in our own fractious times should begin by reading this book."
Duncan Kelly - Financial Times