Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Ascent from Ideology (20th Century Political Thinkers) - Softcover

Mahoney, Daniel J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0742521133 ISBN 13: 9780742521131

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001

Synopsis

In Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Daniel Mahoney presents a philosophical perspective on the political condition of modern man through an exegesis and analysis of Solzhenitsyn's work. Mahoney demonstrates the tremendous, yet often unappreciated, impact of Solzhenitsyn's writing on twentieth century thinking through an examination of the writer's profoundly important critique of communist totalitarianism in a judicious and original mix of western and Russian, Christian and classical wisdom.

About this title

About the Author:

Daniel J. Mahoney is associate professor of political science at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts. His previous books have dealt with Raymond Aron, Charles de Gaulle, Pierre Manent, and Aurel Kolnai. In 1999 he was awarded the prestigious Prix Aron.

Review:

In the natural progression of the ripening of Solzhenitsyn criticism, what has been needed is a book by a political theorist who is at home in the vocabulary of political philosophy and fully familiar with the categories and concepts of that field. Daniel Mahoney fills this niche and his study advances Solzhenitsyn criticism not by small or even medium sized increments, but by a quantum leap forward. Mahoney's book will stand as the book on Solzhenitsyn's politics, precisely because it does not treat politics as a self-contained and free-standing entity, i.e. it does not tear the politics out of the overarching moral vision. This book is simply superb. (Edward E. Ericson Jr., author of Solzhenitsyn and the Modern World)

Everything Daniel Mahoney writes is worth reading and this book, in particular, shows how Solzhenitsyn's vision is even more relevant today than it was in the dark days of the Soviet Occupation. (Michael Novak, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, 1994 Templeton laureate)

Excellent new book. (National Review)

Mahoney reintroduces Solzhenitsyn as a political thinker who deserves to be included in the ranks of Raymond Aron, Jacques Maritain, Martin Buber, and John Dewey, among others. (Foreign Affairs)

Through its penetrating and comprehensive assessment of Solzhenitsyn's significance, Professor Mahoney's book is a lesson in human greatness as well as a powerful contribution to our understanding of modern tyranny. (Pierre Manent, Centre de Recherches Politiques Raymond Aron (EHESS, Paris))

In an age of uninhibited materialism and crass popular culture, where the demands of the fast-paced 'information age' make us so busy we can entirely forget the spiritual realm, Mahoney's book on Solzhenitsyn is a refreshment for the soul. It reminds us that the most important possession of our time on earth is our character, and our character cannot be properly tended unless we allow it to pursue its longing for the true and eternal. (James F. Pontuso, author of Solzhenitsyn's Political Thought)

Even before Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn confessed that in his years of exile in the United States he had not taken up our habit of 'chatting at filling stations,' Americans had decided to disdain him. He was some sort of autocrat or authoritarian, a theocrat, a self-ordained prophet, not to mention an ingrate who had unkind things to say about America and other western nations. If Daniel Mahoney's book does not cause us to rethink our opinions about Solzhenitsyn, it's hard to imagine what could. Mahoney's open-minded and manifestly intelligent analysis of a wide array of his writings shows Solzhenitsyn to be an ardent, albeit measured and reasoned defender of constitutionalism and democratic freedom. He is also, as Mahoney puts it, 'a postmodern foundationalist,' a thoughtful man who did not begin a Christian, but whose experience and reflections on human nature―his 'anthropological conclusions'―led him to its embrace. Not ignorance of the West, of its politics and way of life and of its philosophic underpinnings, but precisely a profound understanding of these enables Mahoney's Solzhenitsyn to speak to the mind and heart of every human being. (Delba Winthrop, Harvard University)

Solzhenitsyn's literary genius as a chronicler of the totalitarian past is universally recognized. Daniel Mahoney persuasively suggests that the great Russian witness and writer is also a serious political philosopher with important things to say about the democratic future. (George Weigel)

Mahoney offers a splendid and always reliable analysis of the political, philosophical, and moral dimensions of Solzhenitsyn's writings which demonstrates that contrary to widespread journalistic assumptions, Solzhenitsyn is deeply indebted to a long line of classic thinkers going all the way back to Plato and Aristotle. (Alexis Klimoff, Vassar College)

Mahoney provides the most fair-minded and attractive account of Solzhenitsyn's political thought to date. (Robert P. Kraynak First Things)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0742521133
• ISBN 13: 9780742521131
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200