1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910777828903321

Autore

Norton Anne

Titolo

Leo Strauss and the politics of American empire [[electronic resource] /] / Anne Norton

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, Conn. ; ; London, : Yale University Press, c2004

ISBN

1-281-72225-1

9786611722258

0-300-13032-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (252 p.)

Disciplina

320.092

Soggetti

Conservatism - United States

Political science - History

Political science - Philosophy

United States Intellectual life 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Prelude -- 1. Who Is Leo Strauss? What Is a Straussian? -- 2. The Lion and the Ass -- 3. Decline into the West -- 4. Closing the American Mind -- 5. Getting the Natural Right -- 6. Persecution and the Art of Writing -- 7. Ancients and Moderns -- 8 The Statesman -- 9. On Tyranny -- 10. Conservatism Abandoned -- 11. The Sicilian Expedition -- 12. Athens and Jerusalem -- 13. The School of Baghdad -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

The teachings of political theorist Leo Strauss (1899-1973) have recently received new attention, as political observers have become aware of the influence Strauss's students have had in shaping conservative agendas of the Bush administration-including the war on Iraq. This provocative book examines Strauss's ideas and the ways in which they have been appropriated, or misappropriated, by senior policymakers. Anne Norton, a political theorist trained by some of Strauss's most famous students, is well equipped to write on Strauss and Straussians. She tells three interwoven narratives: the story of Leo Strauss, a Jewish German-born émigré, who carried European philosophy into a new world; the story of the philosophic lineage that



came from Leo Strauss; and the story of how America has been made a moral battleground by the likes of Paul Wolfowitz, Leon Kass, Carnes Lord, and Irving Kristol-Straussian conservatives committed to an American imperialism they believe will usher in a new world order.