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About Godfrey Hodgson

Godfrey Hodgson was director of the Reuters' Foundation Programme at Oxford University, and before that the Observer's correspondent in the United States and foreign editor of the Independent

His most recent book is The Myth of American Exceptionalism (Yale University Press, 2009)

His earlier books include The World Turned Right Side Up: a history of the conservative ascendancy in America, (Houghton Mifflin, 1996); The Gentleman from New York: Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Houghton Mifflin, 2000); More Equal Than Others: America from Nixon to the New Century (Princeton University Press, 2006), A Great and Godly Adventure: The Pilgrims and the Myth of the First Thanksgiving (PublicAffairs, 2007)

Articles by Godfrey Hodgson

Wednesday 23rd November

American leadership, and a system failure

Godfrey Hodgson, 23 November 2011
The combination of a faded president, discredited rivals, and a dysfunctional political system spells trouble for the United States - at home and in the world, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Monday 3rd October

America against the tide

Godfrey Hodgson, 3 October 2011
The United States's capacity to build alliances and extend influence was once founded on confidence that history was on its side. No longer, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Monday 4th July

Ronald Reagan and America: the real legacy

Godfrey Hodgson, 4 July 2011
The posthumous inflation of Ronald Reagan’s political achievement is also a covert critique of George W. Bush’s foreign-policy failures. But there are also deep continuities between the two administrations, says Godfrey Hodgson. Plus: Takashi Inoguchi on the US and Japan (archive)
Monday 20th June

America’s presidential politics

Godfrey Hodgson, 20 June 2011
Barack Obama’s hopes of a second term are still bright. But twin policy crises and Republican stirrings are clouds on his re-election horizon, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Thursday 21st April

America's political suspense

Godfrey Hodgson, 21 April 2011
The manoeuvring over the United States presidential election in 2012 is underway. But the nature of a contest defined by issues of ideology and economy rather than personality is also beginning to emerge, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Tuesday 29th March

Libya, Arab democracy, and western policy

Godfrey Hodgson, 29 March 2011
The United States and European intervention in Libya leaves open key questions about the future of western power in the wider region, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Tuesday 8th March

America and the Arab revolts: faces of power

Godfrey Hodgson, 8 March 2011
The crisis in Libya is confronting the United States with a new awareness of its military and political constraints, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Tuesday 25th January

American tragedy, political response

Godfrey Hodgson, 25 January 2011
A murderous assault on a public meeting in Arizona has further exposed the United States’s deep political divisions. President Obama’s reaction, for all the praise it received, failed to meet the moment, says Godfrey Hodgson. Now, with the state-of-the-union address, he has another chance.
Wednesday 22nd December

America’s fiscal-political trap

Godfrey Hodgson, 22 December 2010
The systemic flaws in United States governance make long-term policy to address its cavernous deficits impossible, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Thursday 25th November

Thanksgiving and the Tea Party

Godfrey Hodgson, 25 November 2010
The new populist right is filtering America’s most inclusive tradition through a political lens. In doing so it feeds an alarmingly reductive view of national history, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Friday 12th November

America’s world: salesman and missionary

Godfrey Hodgson, 12 November 2010
The United States in the early 21st century is caught in the gap between a potent domestic sense of manifest destiny and a shifting global political reality. President Barack Obama embodies the ensuing dilemma, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Monday 18th October

America’s mad-hatter politics

Godfrey Hodgson, 18 October 2010
The rise of the populist Tea Party movement is dominating the United States's mid-term election campaign. Yet its significance escapes the country's political and media class, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Thursday 19th August

America’s emotional-political moment

Godfrey Hodgson, 19 August 2010
The result of the mid-term elections in the United States will reflect less the political calculations of many voters than their profound sense of disinheritance, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Friday 16th July

America divided: the politics of inequality

Godfrey Hodgson, 16 July 2010
The entrenchment of inequality in the United States damages the economy, degrades politics and corrodes the American dream. A new reality is also an epic challenge of leadership, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Tuesday 6th July

America's Afghan dilemma: Goliath as David

Godfrey Hodgson, 6 July 2010
Barack Obama’s appointment of David H Petraeus to lead the war against the Taliban highlights enduring tensions in the United States over the role of the military in its political life, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Wednesday 26th May

The war for American minds

Godfrey Hodgson, 26 May 2010
The great contest of the United States in 2010, the one that will decide the fate of Barack Obama’s vision of national renewal, is not at heart about politics. It is a clash about the moral nature of American society, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Thursday 6th May

Barack Obama: a market report

Godfrey Hodgson, 6 May 2010
The political fate of this United States presidency is now coming to turn on the mid-term elections in November 2010, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Tuesday 23rd March

The great American refusal

Godfrey Hodgson, 23 March 2010
Barack Obama’s healthcare-reform bill is a real legislative achievement. But the toxic atmosphere surrounding its passage reflects widespread denial of the very legitimacy of his presidency. This is a new twist on a story that began in the 1960s, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Friday 12th March

Barack Obama and America

Godfrey Hodgson, 12 March 2010
An inspiring candidate has become a failing president. But a comparison with Lyndon B Johnson shows that the reasons for this outcome are more than personal. Change had come to America before Barack Obama got to the White House, says Godfrey Hodgson.
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