This book addresses the fate of intellectuals in modern culture and politics. Russell Jacoby's seminal The Last Intellectuals: American Culture in the Age of Academe (1987, 2000) introduced the term public intellectual and gave rise to heated controversy. Here Jacoby assesses contemporary public intellectuals, their profound failings and limited achievements. The book includes biting appraisals of well-known intellectuals, such as Noam Chomsky, Hannah Arendt, and Bernard-Henri Lévy, as well as interventions on violence, utopia and multiculturalism.

Builds on Jacoby's The Last Intellectuals, a modern classic published in 1987 Addresses multiculturalism, diversity, post-colonialism, utopian violence, civil wars, and state violence Includes analysis of Noam Chomsky, Hannah Arendt, Jean-Paul Satre, Isaiah Berlin, Bernard-Henri Lévy, and Albert Camus

Autorentext

Russell Jacoby is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, and the author of nine books, including Repression of Psychoanalysis (1983), Bloodlust (2011), and most recently On Diversity (2020).

Inhalt

1. The Mission of Intellectuals.- 2. Academic Conceits.- 3. Assessments.- 4. Appreciations.- 5. Strictures.- 6. Myths about Utopia and Violence.- 7. Enlightenment in the Age of Hype.