The latest Hitchens tirade is a good example of the confusion common on the left of the advancement of a liberal social agenda with the advancement of science. It’s one of the subjects I take up in my new book, Imagining the Future: Science and American Democracy, which as it happens is out today, and available at fine booksellers near you and on Amazon.

The book tries to see what we might learn about American political life from the science debates of the past few years. It offers some criticism of the left (for confusing science and the left, and other troubles) as well as of the right (on the evolution debate, among other matters). But most of all it seeks after the deep links between modern science and modern politics as they present themselves in our current debates, and reflects on their consequences—good and bad—for American self-government.