Steven B. Smith examines the concept of modernity, not as the end product of historical developments but as a state of mind. He explores modernism as a source of both pride and anxiety, suggesting that its most distinctive characteristics are the self-criticisms and doubts that accompany social and political progress. Providing profiles of the modern project’s most powerful defenders and critics—from Machiavelli and Spinoza to Saul Bellow and Isaiah Berlin—this provocative work of philosophy and political science offers a novel perspective on what it means to be modern and why discontent and sometimes radical rejection are its inevitable by-products.

Review

“Steven B. Smith's timely and thoughtful new book offers an insightful and impressively wide-ranging discussion of modernity and its internal tensions. It will be widely read and discussed for years to come.”—Charles L. Griswold, Bowne Professor of Philosophy, Boston University

(Charles L. Griswold)

"Steven B. Smith’s powerfully lucid intellectual history of modernity offers a new take on the dialogue between ancients and moderns, showing how a diverse group of modern philosophers and writers became more aware of their own ideas and identity by engaging with perennial issues. As an account of who we in the West have become, Modernity and its Discontents should inform discussions of what we might mean by progress in the future."--Michael S. Roth, President, Wesleyan University

(Michael S. Roth)

"Whether you are a lover of modernity or a pre-modern or post-modern critic, this is a book that will engage, enlighten, and provoke you. The chapters are free-standing essays, but they add up to an important argument--and they are at the same time intellectual fun, of a very high order."--Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ

(Michael Walzer)

“[Smith is] superb at bringing abstract ideas to life. . . . Smith’s heart is with an urbane liberal like [Isaiah] Berlin, for whom . . . ‘modernity is not a problem to be overcome but a challenge to be met.’”—James Miller, The New York Times Book Review

(James Miller New York Times Book Review)

"Wonderfully erudite. . . . Nothing less than a short history and analysis of modernity itself."—Christopher Atamian, The Weekly Standard

(Christopher Atamian The Weekly Standard)

“Each chapter . . . is a master class on the relationship between academic scholarship and text-centered teaching, linked by a shared concern with the blessings and curses of the modern self in its quest for intellectual coherence and moral significance.”—Choice

(Choice)

“A superb collection.”—Commonweal

(Commonweal)

Won an Honorable Mention in the Philosophy category for the 2017 American Publishers Awards for Professional & Scholarly Excellence (PROSE).

(PROSE PROSE 2017-02-03)

About the Author

Steven B. Smith is the Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science and Master of Branford College at Yale. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1981. At Yale he has served as the Director of Graduate Studies in Political Science, Director of the Undergraduate Program in Humanities, and Acting Chair of Judaic Studies. His research has been focused on the history of political philosophy and the role of statecraft in constitutional government. His recent publications include Spinoza, Liberalism, and Jewish Identity, Spinoza's Book of Life, and Reading Leo Strauss