Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left

Product Description MP3 CD Format From one of the leading critics of leftist orientations comes a study of the thinkers who have most influenced the attitudes of the New Left. Beginning with a ruthless analysis of New Leftism and concluding with a critique of the key strands in its thinking, Roger Scruton conducts a reappraisal of such major left-wing thinkers as E. P. Thompson, Ronald Dworkin, R. D. Laing, Jurgen Habermas, Gyorgy Lukacs, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Derrida, Slavoj iek, Ralph Milliband, and Eric Hobsbawm. In addition to assessments of these thinkers' philosophical and political contributions, the book contains a biographical and bibliographical section summarizing their careers and most important writings. In Fools, Frauds and Firebrands Scruton asks, What does the Left look like today, and how has it evolved? He charts the transfer of grievances, from the working class to women, gays, and immigrants, asks what we can put in the place of radical egalitarianism, and what explains the continued dominance of antinomian attitudes in the intellectual world. Can there be any foundation for resistance to the leftist agenda without religious faith? Writing with great clarity, Scruton delivers a devastating critique of modern left-wing thinking. Review "A sharp-edged, provocative critique."-- "Publishers Weekly""Caustic, highly recherché, and simply great fun to read for the questing intellectual soul."-- "Kirkus Reviews""Scruton's book is not the dispassionate examination and measured assessment of philosophical arguments typical of analytic philosophers. It is a polemical dissection and indictment of the perceived destructive aims and tactics of the left."-- "New York Review of Books" About the Author Roger Scruton is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He has taught at the Universities of Cambridge, London, Oxford, Princeton, and Boston and has been a freelance writer and commentator for the past fifteen years. His many books include Beauty: A Very Short Introduction, Death-Devoted Heart, and The Uses of Pessimism.