JAMES BURNHAM: Dissecting Modern Liberalism

WHO is James Burnham? The question merits an answer, because Burnham, a best-selling author at mid-century, is now largely forgotten. He was a writer who made a full transition from Trotskyism to being one of the founders of NATIONAL REVIEW. He gained fame with the publication in 1941 of The Managerial Revolution, in which he drew attention to the fact that in the modern world the class of capitalists was being replaced by professional administrators. The book greatly influenced George Orwell and his vision of the world as expressed in 1984.

Suicide of the West was first published in 1964: A second edition came out in 1975 and it has not been republished since. Yet it is an important work, even more relevant today than it was thirty years ago.

RP

About the Author

Richard Pipes

Featured Tags

WHO is James Burnham? The question merits an answer, because Burnham, a best-selling author at mid-century, is now largely forgotten. He was a writer who made a full transition from Trotskyism to being one of the founders of NATIONAL REVIEW. He gained fame with the publication in 1941 of The Managerial Revolution, in which he drew attention to the fact that in the modern world the class of capitalists was being replaced by professional administrators. The book greatly influenced George Orwell and his vision of the world as expressed in 1984.

Suicide of the West was first published in 1964: A second edition came out in 1975 and it has not been republished since. Yet it is an important work, even more relevant today than it was thirty years ago.