Fighting Oligarchy: How Positive Populism Can Reclaim America

This book offers a new analysis of why Trump’s Far Right populism helped him win the Presidency twice, and how it enshrined a corporate establishment that he claimed to run against. Charles Derber presents a counter history of positive left populism and argues that populist parties gain power in eras of hard times for working people while mainstream parties lose voter support as they defend the existing system.

Fighting Oligarchy: How Positive Populism Can Reclaim America makes the unorthodox case that only a left-leaning positive populist movement is likely to defeat Trump and his corporate regime. Derber highlights the core principles of resistance to build a new and sustainable US democracy.

Charles Derber is professor of sociology at Boston College, USA. He is the author of 30 books, most recently Dying for Capitalism (Routledge, 2023) Who Owns Democracy (Routledge, 2024) and Bonfire (Routledge, 2025).