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Title: Straussians run amock...
Review: Simply, this is one of the most disingenuous books I've read in the last couple of years. Not only is Lilla often wrong in his interpretations-- only his reading of Derrida strikes me as plausible -- but the central argument of the book is utterly disingenuous. As a good Straussian, Lilla unreflectively, and anachronistically, rehearses the ancient category of Tyranny without paying any attention to the work done on the nature and scope of totalitarianism in the twentieth century. And let's not dwell on the organization of the chapters -- the chapter on Strauss is, of course, in the middle. Thus following the obtuse numerology often found in the Straussian sect, as well as the one-sided interpretation of Kojeve.That a simplistic argument such as Lilla's, one done with blatant smugness, has received raving reviews, and has been published by the NYRB, are signs that the world of letters has indeed -- to borrow an apt phrase from Godfrey Hodgson --"turned right side up."
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