Description

Can Europe survive after abandoning the national loyalties—and religious traditions—that provided meaning? And what will happen to the United States as it goes down a similar path?

The eminent French political philosopher Pierre Manent addresses these questions in his brilliant meditation on Europe’s experiment in maximizing individual and social rights. By seeking to escape from the “national form,” he shows, the European Union has weakened the very institutions that made possible liberty and self-government in the first place. Worse still, the “spiritual vacuity” that characterizes today’s secular Europe—and, increasingly, the United States—is ultimately untenable.

About the Author

Pierre Manent teaches political philosophy in the Centre de recherches politiques Raymond Aron in Paris. His previous works in English include the groundbreaking Tocqueville and the Nature of Democracy, The City of Man, and An Intellectual History of Liberalism.

Praise For…

“Of today’s major European philosophers, Pierre Manent is the one with the profoundest understanding of democratic man.” —Christopher Caldwell, Weekly Standard

“An excellent introduction to the work of an important thinker, whose ideas help us understand the temptations of the EU’s utopian dream—and its dangers . . . A timely reminder of how much we stand to lose if we follow Europe down that road.” —City Journal

“This perfect refutation of a tempation to hide oneself in a utopia—to no longer exist—is provided as a salutary warning to citizens as well as politicians.” —L’Express

“Manent raises questions about the fragile bond between nationality and self-governance that we would do well to answer.” —Chronicles

“At a time when the European Union has emancipated itself entirely from the loyalties and identities that provided its original meaning, let us hope that the Eurocrats will read Manent’s study, and come to see how crazy they are.” —Roger Scruton, author of The West and the Rest