| Author/Contributor(s): | Dienstag, Joshua Foa |
| Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
| Date: | 03/09/2009 |
| Binding: | Paperback |
| Condition: | NEW |
"It seems that with each passing day the faith in progress becomes less sustainable, less believable, whether one consults environmental, social, or political data. The pessimistic tradition, having confronted the human situation without relying upon this faith, affords us a diverse wealth of resources for going on and even for doing worthy things. Dienstag justifies his dramatic claim that we have been ignoring the pessimistic tradition to our own impoverishment. But his articulation of this tradition, as befits the pessimistic spirit, is provisional and an invitation to others to join in its exploration. There is no other book quite like Dienstag's."--Melissa A. Orlie, University of Illinois
"I think this book is successful in what it sets out to do. It is extremely ambitious: it seeks to recast European political thought over the last 300 years and to make that recasting appealing to contemporary readers. I concur with most of the analyses and in all cases they are creative and enlightening."--Tracy Strong, University of California, San Diego