The history, enduring genius and vital importance today of liberalism We live in an age of extremes- populist leaders are setting the agenda, autocracies are on the march, and the liberal establishment is a bewildered blob, devoid of new ideas or fresh solutions. Having once powered progress in the form of democracy, mass welfare and defeating totalitarianism, liberals have the power to save the world again - but only if they rediscover the lost genius of their creed. Guiding us skilfully and entertainingly through the intellectual, cultural and political histories of liberalism, this book lays out a centrist agenda for today's problems. It reminds us of the dynamism and fixed principles that have shaped the successes of liberalism and warns us against splitting into sub-groups that fail to grapple with the common good. Wooldridge proposes that, as well as reviving social mobility, liberals today need to be much more critical of big business - particularly if it makes money by manipulating choices and spreading misinformation - and rethink the laissez-faire approach to immigration, social disorder, and substance abuse. A powerful call to action, Centrists of the World Unite! shows us how liberals of all parties and none can come together in defending the values of liberal civilization from enemies without and within.

Details

ISBN13: 9780241758700
Format: Hardback
Number of Pages: 416
Edition:
Publication Date: 16 Jun 2026
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 24.1(H)x16.5(L)x3.7(W)630
Weight (gm): 630

Author Biography

Adrian Wooldridge is the global business columnist at Bloomberg Opinion. Previously, he worked for the Economist for thirty-two years, including stints as its Lexington, Schumpeter and Bagehot columnist. He earned a doctorate in history from Oxford University, where he was a Fellow of All Souls College. He is the author or co-author of 11 other books, including The Aristocracy of Talent- How Meritocracy made the Modern World (2021).

Reviews

Powerful and persuasive ... [Wooldridge has] a vivid way of telling the story of an idea through attacks from outside and betrayals from within .... neatly leads to an account of liberalism’s current retreat and what needs to be done now to revive it -- David Willetts * Financial Times *
Ambitious ... Wooldridge [is] the Bagehot of our day. His narrative is persuasive, his diagnosis of the malaise of the Western elites is fresh and he offers convincing reasons for believing that “the lost genius of liberalism” will make a comeback. ... [He] wants to rid liberals of their taste for extremism, to persuade them to take populism seriously and take the fight to the autocrats. He denies that liberalism is shallow or banal, as its critics from Carlyle to Houellebecq have scoffed. He has done an outstanding job of making a fresh, compelling case for liberalism -- Daniel Johnson * Critic *
Wooldridge ... is what you might call a muscular Whig, someone who believes in the idea of progress and liberal democracy as our best shot at human flourishing -- Josh Glancy * Sunday Times *
In Centrists of the World Unite, Adrian Wooldridge carefully locates a crisis both within and without liberalism. [His] approach is refreshing ... [the book is] entertaining, eerie, and [provides] a piercing look at where societies and economies find themselves — which is, ultimately, quite a mess. There is no doubt that liberalism has found itself at a crossroads ... this [book] enables us to think about how it can recover -- Samuel Mace * Critic *
A fine book ... stretches an essential truth over an impressive intellectual range -- Philip Collins * Observer *
For a one-volume history of a rich and complicated subject, you can’t do better -- Jonathan Rauch * Unpopulist *
One of the most vividly thoughtful liberals of our time -- Michael Morris * BusinessDay *
Mr. Wooldridge gives us a bravura performance of summary and synthesis in his telling of the history and substance of liberalism -- Tunku Varadarajan * Wall Street Journal *
Enthralling ... Wooldridge writes fascinatingly about how liberalism’s founders fought to remove “barriers to dynamism”, how their successors grappled with the meaning of freedom and how fiercely liberals themselves have criticised their own creed ... The book's focus is how to chart a course for renewal ... it is a bracing manifesto * Economist *
All eras of economic turmoil have their ground-breaking and pioneering books, lifting the curtain on what is really happening. I would put Wooldridge’s volume right into that class for our time -- David Howell * Article *