Michael Harrington - Collected Works on Democratic Socialism (19 ...

* Michael Harrington - Collected Works on Democratic Socialism (19 books)

MICHAEL HARRINGTON (1928–1989) was America’s most prominent socialist voice in the latter half of the twentieth century, bridging the gap between old-school labor activism and the New Left. As a writer, political activist, and academic, Harrington dedicated his life to exposing the structural failures of American capitalism and organizing democratic socialist movements. He co-founded the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in 1982, advocating for a "left wing of the possible"—a strategy focused on working within the mainstream political arena, particularly the Democratic Party, to achieve real legislative gains for working people rather than retreating into sectarian isolation.

He achieved sudden national fame with the publication of THE OTHER AMERICA: POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES (1962). This seminal text argued that despite the booming post-war economy, a vast, invisible subculture of poverty trapped roughly 40 to 50 million Americans. Harrington detailed how structural changes in agriculture, industrial automation, and systemic racism left a forgotten underclass lacking medical care, adequate housing, and political representation. The book deeply influenced the Kennedy administration and became a foundational catalyst for President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty and Great Society initiatives.

Building on his early success, Harrington spent the next two decades articulating the theory, history, and structural challenges of his political philosophy. In THE ACCIDENTAL CENTURY (1965), he examined the cultural and spiritual crises brought on by rapid technological advancement under capitalism. He followed this with TOWARD A DEMOCRATIC LEFT: A RADICAL PROGRAM FOR A NEW MAJORITY (1968), which attempted to forge a practical political coalition between civil rights activists, labor unions, and the New Left. He then delivered the best-selling SOCIALISM (1972), a comprehensive historical defense of democratic socialism that sought to untangle the ideology from Soviet totalitarianism, followed by his first deeply personal reflection, FRAGMENTS OF THE CENTURY: A SOCIAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1973).

As global economic landscapes shifted, Harrington deepened his macroeconomic critiques. In THE TWILIGHT OF CAPITALISM (1976), he re-examined Marxist economics to diagnose stagflation, while THE VAST MAJORITY: A JOURNEY TO THE WORLD'S POOR (1977) expanded his critique of economic inequality to a global scale by analyzing America's role in impoverishing the developing world. He entered the next decade with DECADE OF DECISION: THE CRISIS OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM (1980) and THE NEXT AMERICA: THE DECLINE AND RISE OF THE UNITED STATES (1981), both of which sounded alarms over corporate dominance and deteriorating public infrastructure. He also explored cultural sociology in THE POLITICS AT GOD'S FUNERAL: THE SPIRITUAL CRISIS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION (1983), analyzing how the decline of traditional religious faith left a moral vacuum that capitalism could not fill.

In his final years, Harrington returned to the theme that launched his career with THE NEW AMERICAN POVERTY (1984), an update detailing how a new underclass was being created by deindustrialisation and automation. He consolidated his shorter essays in TAKING SIDES: THE EDUCATION OF A MILITANT MIND (1985), followed by THE NEXT LEFT: THE HISTORY OF A FUTURE (1986), which analyzed the decline of traditional social democracy. Even while battling cancer, he completed his final two milestone texts: THE LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1988), which reflected on his life of endless organizing, and his intellectual testament, SOCIALISM: PAST AND FUTURE (1989), which reaffirmed his belief that democratic control over economic life was essential to human freedom. Through this massive body of work, Harrington ensured that democratic socialism remained a relevant and humanistic force in American political discourse.


The following books are in ePUB and/or PDF format as indicated:

* The Accidental Century (Macmillan, 1965) – PDF
* Decade of Decision (Simon & Schuster, 1980) – PDF
* The New American Poverty (Penguin, 1985) – PDF
* The Next Left: The History of a Future (Henry Holt, 1986) – PDF
* The Other America: Poverty in the United States (Scribner, 2012) – ePUB
* The Politics at God's Funeral (HRW, 1983) – PDF
* The Retail Clerks (Wiley, 1962) – PDF
* The Social-Industrial Complex (League for Industrial Democracy, 1968) – PDF
* Socialism (Bantam, 1973) – PDF
* Socialism: Past and Future (Arcade, 2011) - Biblio retail – ePUB
* Taking Sides: The Education of a Militant Mind (HRW, 1985) – PDF
* Tax Policy and the Economy (Institute for Democratic Socialism, 1979) – PDF
* Toward a Democratic Left (Macmillan, 1968) – PDF
* The Twilight of Capitalism (Macmillan, 1977) – PDF
* The Vast Majority (Simon & Schuster, 1977) – PDF

== AUTOBIOGRAPHY ==

* Fragments of the Century: A Social Autobiography (Saturday Review, 1973) – PDF
* The Long-Distance Runner (Henry Holt, 1988) – PDF

== OTHER ==

* American Democratic Socialism [Gary Dorrien] (Yale, 2021) – ePUB / PDF
* The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington [Maurice Isserman] (PublicAffairs, 2000) – ePUB


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