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Paul Gottfried

Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America Reprint Edition

by Paul E. Gottfried (Author)

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This book offers an original interpretation of the achievement of Leo Strauss, stressing how his ideas and followers reshaped the American conservative movement. According to this study, Strauss and his disciples came to influence the establishment Right almost by accident. The conservative movement that reached out to Strauss and his legacy was extremely fluid and lacked a self-confident leadership. Conservative activists and journalists felt a desperate need for academic acceptability, which they thought Strauss and his disciples would furnish. They also became deeply concerned with the problem of “value relativism,” which self-described conservatives thought Strauss had effectively addressed. But until recently, neither Strauss nor his disciples have considered themselves to be “conservatives.” Strauss's followers continue to view themselves as stalwart Truman-Kennedy Democrats and liberal internationalists. Contrary to another misconception, Straussians have never wished to convert Americans to ancient political ideals and practices, except in a very selective rhetorical fashion. Strauss and his disciples have been avid champions of American modernity, and “timeless” values as interpreted by Strauss and his followers often look starkly contemporary.

ISBN-10

1107675715
ISBN-13

978-1107675711
Edition

Reprint
Publisher

Cambridge University Press
Publication date

September 26, 2013
Language

English
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.49 x 8.5 inches
Print length

194 pages
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Paul Gottfried gives us the most knowledgeable and balanced analysis yet published of the thought of Leo Strauss and of his disciples, the famous and controversial Straussians. Like Strauss himself, Gottfried is deeply grounded in the great traditions of both German and Jewish scholarship. The resulting book is a rich, deep, and wise interpretation of the most important American political theorist of the mid-twentieth century."
James Kurth, Swarthmore College

"Paul Gottfried's crisp and incisive study offers a fresh perspective on the subject of Strauss and his students. A gifted intellectual historian, Gottfried brings a breadth and density of knowledge, both of fin-de-siècle German Jewish culture and of post-World War II American conservatism, which he draws upon to challenge much of the conventional wisdom about his subject. The resulting book is a must-read for all serious students of American intellectual history and American conservatism."
Wilfred M. McClay, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga

"There appears to be a terrible mental derangement, called 'Straussophobia', afflicting American academic life. Paul Gottfried is the therapist we need to disentangle its elements."
Kenneth Minogue, London School of Economics and Political Science

"Paul Gottfried is a learned scholar and a principled conservative. His admirably detailed and reflective study, which considers Strauss in the context of European and American intellectual history, commands our attention."
Anne Norton, University of Pennsylvania

"Gottfried's new book, Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America: A Critical Appraisal, is as much a study of Leo Strauss' influence in America as it is an historical narrative about the gradual marginalization of what used to be understood as 'conservatism' in America. Indeed, as he brilliantly shows, these two developments are inseparable."
Grant Havers, Trinity Western University

"… stimulating new book …"
Thomas L. Jeffers, The Journal of American History

"Though academic in nature, Paul Gottfried's Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America is written in plain English. What a blessing this is, for it is mandatory reading for all self-described conservatives interested in knowing about the history and the ideas that have influenced their movement."
Jack Kerwick, FrontPage Magazine

"Readers interested in the character of American conservatism and in the debates over the role of Leo Strauss and his students in the conservative movement will want to read this book … This densely argued book adds to the debate over Strauss and his legacy by its comprehensive assessment and its argumentative stance. It is worth serious reflection."
Timothy Fuller, Perspectives on Politics

"Paul Gottfried's book shows evidence of a lifetime of more intimate engagement with Straussians. He is respectful of the master, formed in 'a richer cultural world than his followers - indeed a Teutonic one that most of his prominent students detested'. Gottfried is clearly disappointed in Strauss’s 'epigones', who are happy to refute their poorly informed but respectable critics on the Left but who refuse to engage in serious debate with their learned and perceptive critics on the Right."
Mark Shiffman, Modern Age

"I've always wanted to read a critique of Strauss - and more particularly, of Straussianism - which didn't devolve into leftist hyperbole or paranoia. This is the first I've read. Gottfried’s critique is really from the right - against Strauss's postmodern reading of texts … against the abolition of history as well as historicism, against the reclusiveness and defensiveness of the Straussian enclave, and against their fixation with Western weakness in which the world is forever 1938. He persuaded me that the core of Straussianism is political, not philosophical - and a true competitor to what I would call conservatism, properly understood. None of this takes away from the truly remarkable scholarship that Strauss and Straussians have given us, or their useful antidote to the idea that all our core debates about the world have been resolved. But it helps reveal the deeply un-conservative and profoundly radical nature of neoconservatism, and its mania for imperialism and Israel."
Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish

"[The only book that] specifically offers a right-wing critique of this German-Jewish émigré professor who is so often assumed to be a right-winger himself … Paul Gottfried’s book… is sufficiently magnanimous that it may lead readers to a new appreciation for Strauss."
Daniel McCarthy, The University Bookman

Book Description

Offers a strikingly original interpretation of Leo Strauss, his 'political philosophy', and the connection of both to the American conservative movement.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; Reprint edition (September 26, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 194 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1107675715
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1107675711
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.49 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #844,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,855 in Political Conservatism & Liberalism
- #2,239 in Political Philosophy (Books)
- #4,024 in History & Theory of Politics

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WatchDog

GREAT DOCUMENTATION OF THE CONSERVATIVE-IMPOSTORS INCREASINGLY INFECTING THE GOP LIKE A CANCER POST-1800s

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 13, 2016

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Anyone wondering what caused America's post-1800s change from an erratic trajectory toward prosperity, to a trajectory toward national-suicide must ask the question of, "What variables changed?" This book, covers the variables that changed within the GOP, which includes the GOP becoming increasingly infected with 'establishment' constitutional-deconstructionists and global-engineers like a cancer. 'Establishment' conservative-impostors using conservative and Christian rhetoric as a veneer to hide the fact that they co-opted and changed the GOP from being 'the party of the Constitution' ensuring security and prosperity, to being 'the lesser of two America destroying mainstream political parties.' It also evidences why, as evidenced by America's continued deconstruction since approximately the year 1900, voting for 'the lesser of two evils' in the form of ensuring a GOP 'establishment' politician is elected instead of an 'establishment' Democrat, when in fact they are the functional equivalent of 'two opposing sides on the same coin,' only serves to take America down a different 'establishment' path toward national-suicide than would have occurred had a democrat-socialists been elected. Lessor constitutional-deconstructionism merely brings less destruction in the end - but never restoration.

Moreover, it identifies the precise type of 'establishment' constitutional-deconstructionist and globalist politician that must be lawfully cleansed from the GOP, if the GOP is going to transition from being the party bringing slower destruction and destruction of different types then do Democrats, to the party that saved America from national-suicide.

7 people found this helpful

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Mike Johnson Smith

Useful history

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 10, 2014

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This is a nice overview of an intellectual movement I knew of only second or third hand. Leo Strauss was a formidable scholar. Though Dr. Gottfried is certainly not a follower, he is not stinting in his praise regarding Strauss' abilities as an academic. Neither is he shy to note weaknesses and contradictions in Strauss' thought.

Most of what I had read earlier about the subject either praised him shallowly or attacked him as the demon father of the neo-conservatives. Regarding the neocons, the book has many insights. I didn't know, for example, that Allan Bloom, author of The Closing of the American Mind, voted Democrat. Dr. Gottfried traces the history of Strauss' influence on the American academy, and allows us to watch thereby the decay of Western thought. No one serious would name an intellectual movement after any of today's Straussians in the universities or the media.

This book will be valuable to anyone interested in the history of a school of thought now fallen into decline.

3 people found this helpful

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C. Derick Varn

A very interesting discussion of the relationship between Strauss and American conservativism

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 14, 2014

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A fair minded, if paleo-conservative, critique and explication of Strauss. Particularly interesting is Gottfried's critique of Strauss's notions of "political philosophy" as well as his delineation between types of Straussian thinkers. The focus of this book, despite its title, is mostly aimed understanding if Strauss could be said to have a strong relationship to the conservative movement, and how different Strauss actually was from neo-conservatives and the more aggressive thinkers around Strauss's students like A. Bloom and Jaffa. The first two biographical chapters are enlightening. My primary complaint is that book could have been a little longer and more developed, although its a fairly quick read at less than 200 pages. Despite its brevity, however, this isan academic book and one should be familiar with many of the authors mentioned in it before reading.

5 people found this helpful

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Eric Martin

A Very Balanced and Objective Assessment of Strauss's Legacy within America

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 10, 2013

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Paul Gottfried's book on Leo Strauss is quite thoughtful and fair. I believe the problem with present so-called american conservatism does not lie with Strauss himself so much, but with his many students (i.e., Straussians) who misconstrued and twisted his many unique ideas in order fit their particular ideological agenda i.e., neo-conservatism. I also liked very much the way in which Mr. Gottfried presented all of his footnotes at the bottom of each page thereby providing for ease of reading, as opposed to placing them at the back of the work which makes it more awkward for the reader.

Eric Martin

7 people found this helpful

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Max Muller

5/5

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 21, 2021

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Wonderful book; clearly written; penetrating critique by a paleocon legend.

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Scott

This is a well researched, not to mention very ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 4, 2014

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This is a well researched, not to mention very balanced work by an author who is clearly an expert in this field. It is not, however, a light read for those without some philosophical and historical background.

4 people found this helpful

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Ralph Brandt

good book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 7, 2014

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I thought this was a good read, even if the material was a bit dense. The minions of Leo Strauss deny that they are neocons, even though the neocons make lots of resources available to them.

One person found this helpful

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Larry Ray Farmer

Two Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 1, 2018

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too scholarly

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Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America Reprint Edition

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