Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines key twentieth-century philosophers, theologians, and social scientists who began their careers with commitments to the political left only later to reappraise or reject them. Their reevaluation of their own previous positions reveals not only the change in their own thought but also the societal changes in the culture, economics, and politics to which they were reacting. By exploring the evolution of the political thought of these philosophers, this book draws connections among these thinkers and schools and discovers the general trajectory of twentieth-century political thinking in the West.
Trade ReviewThis is a fine collection of thoughtful, philosophically rigorous, and illuminating studies of major twentieth century leftist thinkers who journeyed rightward. We are offered fascinating and even riveting accounts of radicals coming to grips with and overcoming the dogmas in which they had become immersed. No one, left or right, is immune to the allure of dogma, and this book shows every intellectually serious person the challenge we all face in attaining a genuinely free soul. -- Luigi Bradizza, Salve Regina University
Table of ContentsChapter 1: James Burnham: From Left to Right Paul Gottfried Chapter 2: Pondering the People: Willmoore Kendall’s Intellectual Path From Progressive to Conservative Populism Christopher H. Owen Chapter 3: “Mugged by Reality”: The Neoconservative Turn Lee Trepanier Chapter 4: George Grant and Charles Taylor: Canadian Owls Ron Dart Chapter 5: Alasdair MacIntyre’s Revolutionary Peripateticism Kelvin Knight Chapter 6: Benedict Ashley’s Reappraisal of Marxism Christopher S. Morrissey Chapter 7: Christopher Lasch: A Reconsideration Jeremy Beer Chapter 8: The Failure of Marxism through the Frankfurt School and Jürgen Habermas Pedro Blas González Chapter 9: Analytical Marxism and the Meaning of Historicism: Reflections on Kai Nielsen and G. A. Cohen Grant Havers
