Is  Leo Strauss truly an intellectual forebear of neoconservatism and a powerful force in shaping Bush administration foreign policy? The Truth about Leo Strauss puts this question to rest, revealing for the first time how the popular media came to perpetuate such an oversimplified view of such a complex and wide-ranging philosopher. More important, it corrects our perception of Strauss, providing the best general introduction available to the political thought of this misunderstood figure. 

Catherine and Michael Zuckert—both former students of Strauss—guide readers here to a nuanced understanding of how Strauss’s political thought fits into his broader philosophy. Challenging the ideas that Strauss was an inflexible conservative who followed in the footsteps of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Carl Schmitt, the Zuckerts contend that Strauss’s signature idea was the need for a return to the ancients. This idea, they show, stemmed from Strauss’s belief that modern thought, with its relativism and nihilism, undermines healthy politics and even the possibility of real philosophy. Identifying this view as one of Strauss’s three core propositions—America is modern, modernity is bad, and America is good—they conclude that Strauss was a sober defender of liberal democracy, aware of both its strengths and its weaknesses. 

The Zuckerts finish, appropriately, by examining the varied work of Strauss’s numerous students and followers, revealing the origins—rooted in the tensions within his own thought—oftheir split into opposing camps. Balanced and accessible, The Truth about Leo Strauss is a must-read for anyone who wants to more fully comprehend this enigmatic philosopher and his much-disputed legacy.

作者簡介：

凱瑟琳·紮科特（Catherine Zuckert）列奧•斯特勞斯學派重要成員。現為美國聖母大學政治學係教授，《政治學評論》主編。著有《自然權利與美國想象》（Natural Right and the American Imagination）、《後現代的柏拉圖們》（Postmodern Platos）、《柏拉圖的哲學傢們》（Plato’s Philosophers）等，獲譽1990年美國齣版商協會哲學宗教類最佳圖書、2009年霍金斯奬最佳學術著作等。

邁剋爾·紮科特（ Michael Zuckert） 列奧•斯特勞斯學派重要成員。1974年取得芝加哥大學博士學位，現為美國聖母大學政治學係教授、主任。研究領域包括政治哲學、美國憲法與理論、美國政治思想等。另著有《自然權利的共和國》（The Natural Rights Republic: Studies in the Foundation of the American Political Tradition）、《開創自由主義：論洛剋的政治哲學》（Launching Liberalism: On Lockean Political Philosophy）、《自然權利與新共和主義》（Natural Rights and the New Republicanism）等。

譯者簡介：

宋菲菲，畢業於華東師範大學中文係，現從事英語教學工作。