Lost in Ideology: Interpreting Modern Political Life

'Comparative Religions' For US Politics Should Be Required Reading For Every Voter In An Election Year. The title of this review basically sums up the entire review. This truly is a well written "comparative religions" type text, except for US political thought rather than the various global religions traditions. Showing the history and development of each "map", as Blakely calls them, (but without much documentation - more on that momentarily), Blakely does a remarkably balanced job of showing each school of thought in as close to a neutral fashion as may be possible - extremists within any given school may think he didn't present "their" side good enough, or perhaps shows "their" enemies in too good of a light, but from an objective-ish position, I stand by my statement of just how neutral he really is here. And yes, I really do think this should be required reading for every US voter before really even deciding who ultimately to vote for in any given election, as this book is truly a solid primer on the various ideologies used throughout the US and their various offshoots and intersections. Truly, it will allow each individual to better understand even those they disagree vehemently with, and ultimately a voter that better understands everyone is a better informed voter, period, who ultimately would at least have the ability to make a more fully informed decision.

Indeed, the *only* problem with this book - and thus the star deduction, as it *is* something I deduct for in all instances - is the lack of documentation. Even if I were willing to slide from my 20-30% standard (and as I've mentioned in previous reviews, I am openly considering this with every new book), this book clocking in at just 12% documentation still feels a bit light for all of its claims, no matter how well balanced.

Still, again, every voter should absolutely read this book before making any electoral decisions going forward, whether that be in 2024 or for the next several years - until this book is invalidated by future changes, whenever that may be. Very much recommended.

So, in Parts 1 and 2, the book discusses the history and early philosophical origins of various dominating philosophies. However, considering the title “Interpreting Modern Political Life,” it felt somewhat inadequate. There was very little focus on the evolution of ideology and more on accounting for the most prominent ideological and political phenomena happening in contemporary times. Although the discussions on fascism and socialism were very illuminating.

In Part 3, liquidized ideologies broke from the tradition of being solely confined to earlier times, and we got more discussion on contemporary issues. However, the lack of inclusion of ideological mashups in cyberspace made it seem unfinished.

Overall, I liked the book quite a lot, even though I had a hard time getting into some of the chapters. The author did a good job explaining some of the most dominating ideological beliefs.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5.