Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left

From one of the leading critics of leftist orientations comes a study of the thinkers who have most influenced the attitudes of the New Left. Beginning with a ruthless analysis of New Leftism and concluding with a critique of the key strands in its thinking, Roger Scruton conducts a reappraisal of such major left-wing thinkers as E. P. Thompson, Ronald Dworkin, R. D. Laing, Jurgen Habermas, Gyorgy Lukacs, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Derrida, Slavoj Žižek, Ralph Milliband, and Eric Hobsbawm. In addition to assessments of these thinkers' philosophical and political contributions, the book contains a biographical and bibliographical section summarizing their careers and most important writings.

In Fools, Frauds and Firebrands Scruton asks, What does the Left look like today, and how has it evolved? He charts the transfer of grievances, from the working class to women, gays, and immigrants, asks what we can put in the place of radical egalitarianism, and what explains the continued dominance of antinomian attitudes in the intellectual world. Can there be any foundation for resistance to the leftist agenda without religious faith?

Writing with great clarity, Scruton delivers a devastating critique of modern left-wing thinking

"The book is a masterpiece, its rather too clever title notwithstanding. In crisp, sometimes brilliant prose, Mr. Scruton considers scores of works in three languages, giving the reader an understanding of each thinker’s overarching aim and his place within the multifaceted movement known as the New Left. He neither ridicules nor abuses the writers he considers; he patiently deconstructs them, first explaining their work in terms they themselves would recognize and then laying bare their warped assumptions and empty pretensions." ―Wall Street Journal

"Scruton’s book is not the dispassionate examination and measured assessment of philosophical arguments typical of analytic philosophers. It is a polemical dissection and indictment of the perceived destructive aims and tactics of the left. Earlier chapters on Sartre and Foucault, and on members of the Frankfurt School, particularly Adorno, are the most engaging." ―Samuel Freeman, The New York Review of Books

“Eminent British philosopher and polymath Scruton gives a sharp-edged, provocative critique of leading leftist thinkers since the mid-20th century . . . complex and erudite.” ―Publishers Weekly

“Caustic, highly recherché, and simply great fun to read for the questing intellectual soul.” ―Kirkus Reviews

"[H]onestly assesses the political and philosophical contributions of the Left [and] addresses what is likely our most pressing question: ‘Can there be any foundation for resistance to the leftist agenda without religious faith?'" ―Catholic World Report

About the Author

Professor Roger Scruton is a graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge. He has been Professor of Aesthetics at Birkbeck College, London, and University Professor at Boston University. He is currently a visiting professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford and Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C. He has published a large number of books, including some works of fiction, and has written and composed two operas. He writes regularly for the Times, the Telegraph, and Spectator, and was for many years wine critic of the New Statesman.