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Clean for Gene: Eugene McCarthy's 1968 Presidential Campaign. By George Rising. (Westport: Praeger, 1997. xviii, 156 pp. $55.00, ISBN 0-275-95841-8.)
In a mere ninety-five pages, George Rising tries to examine three different subjects, each of which alone is worth deep consideration: Eugene McCarthy's bid for the 1968 Democratic nomination; the New Left's relationship to McCarthy; and the death of Cold War liberalism. These are huge topics, and it is impossible to do them justice in what is really an inflated article.
Rising begins by saying that we lack a thorough study of McCarthy's 1968 challenge. Quite so. For that matter, the campaign ought to be the climax of a proper biography. Rising gives us neither. He briefly recounts McCarthy's upbringing: rural, Catholic, midwestern, by turns both...