Late You Come But Still You Come
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Like many who start out on the left, Nick Cohen was an idealist.
He'd like to have stayed that way; it's just that that pesky old human nature, and the immutable laws of life, kept getting in the way.
'What's Left' is a readable and enjoyable journey through one man's realisation that what he thought was cast iron, solid gold fact isn't.
His isn't as important or dramatic a conversion as that of - say - David Horowitz, but it's important, nonetheless.
I'd recomment this book to anyone struggling with the evidence of his or her own eyes - decaying streets while crime is 'lower than ever', shocking educational standards while education is 'better than ever', soldiers dying in wars where not a round was supposed to have been fired... it might tip you over the edge.
Oh, and read those two one star reviews for the sound and smell of panic among the diehards.
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High Time
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At last, a writer who isn't afraid to challenge the posturing of a now ridiculous 'liberal left', a loose political grouping who really should have the collective intelligence to know better. Until recently I've counted myself as one of them but now I just feel ashamed. This fine writer will tell you why. But one of his chapter titles, 'Kill us, we deserve it', pretty well sums it all up.
Cohen's analysis is as sober as it is disturbing and I read this book well into the night, as gripped as by any thriller. He also writes lucidly, an especial advantage and in direct contrast to the disappointing traditions of inpenetrable prose by many leftist thinkers.
Nick Cohen, given his fine liberal background, is a brave man to have written this book. He has had the courage to stand up and be counted and should be applauded for it.
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I was a bit disappointed by the writing, not the politics
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I found this book a little disappointing, given the positive reviews and significant publicity it had. Perhaps that says more about me than the book; I don't know. I found the constant emphasis on Iraq really tiresome, whatever I thought of the arguments themselves. (I generally agreed). I suppose the book didn't reflect my experience very much or significantly challenge or even interest me, which I had hoped and expected it would. It's quite hard going as well; the style isn't easy to follow.
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An apology for mediocrity...
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Nick Cohen's book reads like a sad apologia for his own sorry political mediocrity. You only have to hear the man speak on Question time to realise he is a populist toady, masquerading as a socialist. He begins by explaining his leftish credentials, apologising for his liberal/socialist parents. He meanders on to defend the invasion of Iraq, ignoring the glaring reality of the grab for oil, or the deaths of tens of thousands in the fighting, and hundreds of thousands in the sanctions preceding it.
I suppose the best thing that can be said about the book is that Cohen is obviously a victim of the same lame minded liberalism he is so keen to criticise. To those of us with no party political allegiance, however, there are plenty of sound human reasons for opposing the killing and maiming in the name of greed. Cohen, though, would rather sit and have a conversation with himself on why it is wrong to be go agaainst the flow.
Liberal minded people are urged to fall in line with his way of thinking, on the basis that he - Nick Cohen - has learned to control his own wicked liberal tendencies. This book is a waste of good money and an insult to intelligent thought.
I suppose, because he is in the public eye, he assumes people will look no further than his own, poorly referenced jottings. If this assumption is correct then we are all in deep trouble.
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Ahead of it's time.
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I am not a left-winger by any means, in fact i vote tory. But i have liberal values, and i have always been jealous of the ability of the left to take the unquestioned "moral" highground. However this book exposes the dangerous hypocrisy of the left of today. Cohen has blown open the doors to their own self destruction and even i am worried when i hear of traditional left wing groups supporting anti-west and islamic groups because they cannot bear to stand on the side of their own governments.One would think that these anti-war demonstraters have never read a book on international relations, but have a niave and ignorant view on the world and of "morality" This book is an engrossing read from start to finish, it takes on a largely ignored subject, this should be the left's wake up call. As i may differ on many issues with them, there is a need for unity across the political spectrum in fighting oppression across the world. Nick Cohen i salute your brave effort.
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