Leo Strauss: An Intellectual BiographyA major, groundbreaking biography that traces the intellectual development of one of the most important political thinkers of the twentieth century Tanguay gives special attention to Strauss's little-known formative years, 1920-1938, during which the philosopher elaborated the theme of his research, what he termed the "theological-political problem." Tanguay shows the connection of this theme to other major elements in Strauss's thought, such as the Quarrel between the Ancients and Moderns, the return to classical natural right, the art of esoteric writing, and his critique of modernity. In so doing, the author approaches what is at the heart of Strauss's work: God and politics. Rescuing Strauss from polemics and ill-defined generalizations about his ideas, Tanguay provides instead an important and timely analysis of a major philosophical thinker of the twentieth century. |