The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back Against Progressives' War on Fun

"Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."

-H.L. Mencken

The Left used to be the party of the hippies and the free spirits. Now it's home to woke scolds and humorless idealogues. The New Puritans can judge a person's moral character by their clothes, Netflix queue, fast food favorites, the sports they watch, and the company they keep. No choice is neutral, no sphere is private.

Not since the Puritans has a political movement wanted so much power over your thoughts, hobbies, and preferences every minute of your day. In the process, they are sucking the joy out of life.

In The Rise of the New Puritans, Noah Rothman explains how, in pursuit of a better world, progressives are ruining the very things which make life worth living. They've created a society full of verbal trip wires and digital witch hunts. Football? Too violent. Fusion food? Appropriation. The nuclear family? Oppressive.

Witty, deeply researched, and thorough, The Rise of the New Puritans encourages us to spurn a movement whose primary goal has become limiting happiness. It uncovers the historical roots of the left's war on fun and reminds us of the freedom and personal fulfillment at the heart of the American experiment.

ISBN-13: 9780063160002

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Publication Date: 07-05-2022

Pages: 320

Product Dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

Noah Rothman is the associate editor of Commentary Magazine, author of Unjust, and an MSNBC/NBC News contributor.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

1 Revelation: The New Rise of an Old Morality 1

2 Piety: The Work Is Its Own Reward 20

3 Prudence: Heresies of the Unconscious Mind 51

4 Austerity: An Unadorned Life 88

5 Fear of God: The Evil of Banality 121

6 Temperance: Sober, Chaste, and Penitent 153

7 Order: The Company We Keep 189

8 Reformation: Slowly at First, Then All at Once 219

Afterword 246

Acknowledgments 249

Notes 251

Index 289