This is a thorough and solid intellectual and political biography of a movement most often associated now with the Bush 2 White House.

The author begins with the intellectual underpinnings of neoconservatism in 1930s New York, where anti-Stalinist Marxist students met in one of the alcoves of CCNY. He goes on to detail the political phase of the movement with the formation of the Coalition for a Democratic Majority in the 1970s, a reaction to the radical New Left of the 1960s, and on to the neoconservatism of the past decade.

Having some ties to CDM, I was most interested in this second age of neoconservatism. Vaiss obviously did his research and presents it clearly and blessedly focused on the thinking and actions of the organization, not the personalities.

I was surprised to see the book has been translated from the French, though that might explain the paucity of direct quotes from the many people interviewed by Vaiss, a Brookings Institution senior fellow. ( )