Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

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.

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.

• Chapter 1 Introductory Note: Taking Solzhenitsyn SeriouslyChapter 2 The One True Progress: Solzhenitsyn's Alternative to Modern LiberalismChapter 3 The Experience of Totalitarianism and the Recovery of NatureChapter 4 True and False Liberalism: Stolypin and His Enemies in August 1914Chapter 5 The Ascent from Modernity:"Repentance and Self-Limitation in the Life of Nations"Chapter 6 The Physiognomy of Liberty: Solzhenitsyn's "Tocquevillian" Defense of Local Self-GovernmentChapter 7 Concluding Reflection: The Soul between Politics and Eternity