Title: Easily misunderstood but groundbreaking
Product review: This book is written for scholars of political science, not for casual readers or the anti-establishment. Claes Ryn describes a movement throughout Western politics that he calls the neo-Jacobins. The neo-Jacobins bear a resemblance to Rousseau in the sense that (1) they advocate the eradication of tradition and political and individual restraint, (2) their morality is such that they are always right, and anyone who opposes them is wrong. Neo-Jacobin thinking permeates through intellectual elites who stand to gain power from the two points above. The one criticism I have is that his description of the Jacobins may not be taken seriously because it comes across as a "conspiracy." In fact, it is not a conspiracy, and many of the Jacobins are not aware that they are or have not thought carefully about where they stand. Still, such a manner of presentation may discourage serious readers from accepting his views.
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