Christopher Lasch, the late historian/social commentator, is suddenly everywhere

The past few months have seen a revival of sorts for Christopher Lasch, the University of Rochester historian who became one of the most perceptive cultural critics of postwar America. Some friends and colleagues have noted the "Lasch moment" we seem to be having: "Didn’t you study with that guy?" they ask me. I say yes — and I worry. Lasch’s work has often been misunderstood, his books achieving best-seller status (much to his own humble surprise) but often quickly read and distilled into simplistic interpretations. If he is having a moment now, in these post-Brexit, Trumpian times, what element of his long career is generating this comeback?

The first time I saw Lasch’s name invoked recently was in the Trump "syllabus" in these pages. Jill Lepore cited Lasch’s posthumous book, The Revolt of the Elites (1995), for its "uncanny" prediction of "a democratic crisis resulting from the fact that ‘elites speak only to themselves,’ partly because of ‘the absence of institutions that promote general conversations across class lines.’" Writing in The Baffler, George Scialabba reminded readers of Lasch’s ire toward capitalism. But conservatives have also been touting Lasch’s work. At The American Conservative, Gilbert T. Sewall cites Lasch in describing a "white, yeoman flight from the Democratic Party." Ross Douthat, of The New York Times, argues that Lasch offered an "angry" but important critique of "the professional upper class’s withdrawal from the society it rules." And none other than Stephen Bannon has reportedly cited The Revolt of the Elites as one of his favorite books to understand this juncture in history.

I’d welcome this renewed interest, but what worries me is that much of it is driven by a desire to explain the phenomenon of Trump, and particularly the politics of the white working class in 21st-century America. The Revolt of the Elites, a book that was hastily written and not Lasch’s best, has drawn the most attention, which is unfortunate. Lasch left behind a number of important, thoughtful works of history that serve simultaneously as eye-opening social criticism. But if you go back to him to find answers as to why large numbers of the white working class voted for a man whose wealth and fame are built upon a lavish hotel business and reality television, you will be left scratching your head. ...