About 15 years ago (I am unsure about the number of years) Prof. Sabin wrote an excellent book called "The Bet" about the famous wager between Julian Simon and Paul Erhlich (which Erhlich lost) regarding an optimistic versus a pessimistic outlook for humankind and our planet. Now Sabin has returned with a dreadful book, "Public Citizens" about Ralph Nader, Rachel Carson, and others that simply misstated almost all of the facts. What Prof. Sabin has apparently forgotten since he wrote The Bet, is that Simon had carefully debunked all of these alleged Public Citizens! Do not purchase Sabin's latest book instead go back and read The Bet.

Sabin's work offers, for me, a fresh perspective on the erosion of 'Big Government' Liberalism. I do not necessarily agree with the author's conclusions and feel that many of LBJ's Great Society programs refute some of his claims. That said, the author succeeds in charting a long term erosion of faith in the capacity of government to make positive societal change from the high water mark of the New Deal, to the low tide of the Reagan/Thatcher 1980s. The focus on citizen activists was an interesting approach and I appreciated the sections on Carson and Jacobs that avoided the hagiography of previous writings on these individuals (despite my high regard for Jacobs). A timely read since debates around the Green New Deal, massive infrastructure spending, and a trillion dollar economic recovery package, all currently divide U.S. government along these ideological fault lines.