Philosophy, Politics and Current Events, Reviews

Review: Smith, Reading Leo Strauss

jacket imageThe National Post recently praised Steven B. Smith’s Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism. From the review by Robert Fulford: "Strauss’s reputation has suffered from the ferocious anger that divisive American politics directs against any idea appearing even remotely connected to George W. Bush. Now Steven B. Smith of Yale has written a remarkable book, Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism, in which he straightens the record and summarizes Strauss’s thought."
Interest in Leo Strauss is greater now than at any time since his death, mostly because of the purported link between his thought and the political movement known as neoconservatism. Steven B. Smith, though, surprisingly depicts Strauss not as the high priest of neoconservatism but as a friend of liberal democracy—perhaps the best defender democracy has ever had.
Read an excerpt.