The New Reckoning

"David Marquand's quest to understand our times and so reinvent the British liberal tradition has been one of the most important influences on British politics over the last ten years - and on me personally. The New Reckoning assembles some of his most challenging and thought-provoking writing - and it is as subtle, intelligent and persuasive as I have come to expect. Another important contribution from the master." Will Hutton

"David Marquand is that very rare bird these days - a politician (somewhat ex - by his own choice) who is more interested in ideas than in the gossip of who's in and who's out. As however he writes with a flair and even a raciness which should make most gossip columnists green with envy, he is immensely readable. He also writes with a rigorous and disinterested intellectual courage. He follows his argument where it takes him, without regard to which political interests it offends or supports. This book of essays, some old and some new, would be worthwhile just for its brilliant introduction (significantly entitled Journey to an Unknown Destination) alone. But it also has much else of wisdom on the dilemmas of modern societies." The Right Hon. Lord Jenkins of Hillhead

"No observer of Labour's postwar evolution is more perceptive or more deeply reflective than David Marquand. The result is one of the most arresting and thought-stirring books on politics to have appeared for many years. It has the rare merit of combining theoretical and historical vision with an intimate understanding of political practice. It is also a fascinating fragment of political and intellectual autobiography." The New Statesman and Society

"David Marquand's latest offering will not disappoint: his eloquent style, rigorous analysis and challenging commentary characterises The New Reckoning. [It] engages the reader in a thought-provoking, intelligent debate from which few of us will escape without new insights to the political era over which the Blair government presides." The Stakeholder

"David Marquand is an engaging and stylish political thinker, who moves adventurously across academic frontiers and straddles the worlds of scholarship and politics." Prospect

"Marquand has fluently channelled some of his most challenging and thought provoking arguments into what promises to be one of the most influential contributions to modern British politics." Social Science

"The next instalment from this reflective mind will be worth waiting for." The Economist

"It is the work of Britain's most scrupulous liberal commentator on politics ... producing essays of clarity and fine judgment." The Times Literary Supplement

"Comparative and international in his perspective, non-sectarian in his argument, clear in his prose, Marquand brings together a command of political economy, history and political culture and a commitment to the people that belongs to that time. In his writing he makes the fusion that he calls for in British politics." The Guardian

"A fascinating account of his own intellectual development." Government and Opposition

"Marquand's arguments and interpretations are lucid, thought provoking and undeniably pertinent." International Affairs