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Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy critically interprets Strauss's political philosophy from a conservative perspective. Most mainstream readers of Strauss have either condemned him from the Left as an extreme right-wing opponent of liberal democracy or celebrated him from the Right as a traditional defender of Western civilization. Rejecting both portrayals, Grant N. Havers shifts the debate beyond the conventional parameters stating that Strauss was neither a man of the Far Right nor a conservative but. in fact a secular Cold War liberal.

In Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy Havers contends that the most troubling implication of Straussianism is that it provides an ideological rationale for the aggressive spread of democratic values on a global basis while ignoring the preconditions that make these values possible. Concepts such as the rule of law, constitutional government, Christian morality, and the separation of church and state are not easily transplanted beyond the historic confines of Anglo-American civilization, as recent wars to spread democracy have demonstrated.

Grant N. Havers' profile page

Grant N. Havers is Chair of the Department of Philosophy, with a cross-appointment in Political Studies, at Trinity Western University, in British Columbia, Canada. He is the author of Lincoln and the Politics of Christian Love.

Grant Havers' conservative-oriented critique of Leo Strauss' work is brave, counter-intuitive, and ultimately persuasive.

C2C Journal

In any revelatory study, there is always the moment when the reader thinks 'That's true. I should have seen that.' For me, that moment came with Havers's account?learned, subtle, and occasionally surprising?of Strauss's liberalism.

The American Conservative

One of the most thorough critiques to date of the political uses and abuses of Strauss's thought.

Perspectives on Politics