For the American left, the most exciting victories of recent years have not been achieved against the right, but against the Democratic Party itself. From Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the new generation of progressive leaders—more women than men, more people of color than white—has been forced to face a reluctant, distrustful, and often openly obstructive partisan establishment.

What are the keys to their unlikely successes or how can they be repeated? This is the question asked by journalist Raina Lipsitz in her book “The Rise of a New Left: How Young Radicals Are Shaping the Future of American Politics.” Lipsitz (Buffalo, 1982) lives in South Brooklyn, New York, where she was just elected to the organizing committee of the South Brooklyn branch of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)—a national organization founded in the 1980s that today has over one hundred thousand militants, including the new mayor of New York.