'Imagining the Possible' questions whether the radical vision and the quest for incremental change truly preclude one another with essays which highlight the shifting intersection between where we would like to go and where we are now.

Jean-Paul Sartre originally made the term engagement a part of the existentialist vocabulary following WWII. It imples the responsibility of intervening in social or political conflicts in the hope of fostering freedom. Imagining the Possible opens different windows upon this particular engagement.

"The notions of socialism, democracy, & internationalism, & the contributions of various activists & intellectuals in these areas, are analyzed to determine whether social & political change is possible in the contemporary world. Several 20th-century events & movements that significantly influenced leftist politics are studied." -- J.W. Parker, Sociological Abstracts"Wonderfully rich, unpredictable, and nuanced, these essays call us back to a way of thinking radically that, had the American left only reckoned with it better, might have kept many of us more engaged. With acuity and candor, Stephen Eric Bronner leavens his pragmatism with a humanist idealism that reintroduces hope to politics." -- Jim Sleeper, The Closest of Strangers and Liberal Racism"In this classy and engaging collection, Bronner helps keep alive a critical reflection threatened by both antiquarian Marxists and policy wonks." -- Russell Jacoby, UCLA, and author of The End of Utopia