"Scialabba's lucidity, incisiveness, and commitment to democratic values have made him one of our finest political essayists--and an essential guide to a period of intellectual reaction, timidity and outright cowardice."--Adam Shatz, author of The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon "An astute commentator on American society and political ideas, Scialabba is that rarity in American culture: an independent intellectual. Fairness, candor, and consistency have marked his work throughout a unique career. He is always worth reading."--David Bromwich, Yale University "Scialabba is a premier observer of our intellectuals. While his criticism of many of them is rightly unsparing, Scialabba also gathers shards of utopia in the blasted landscape of the present."--Samuel Moyn, author of Liberalism against Itself "Scialabba quotes Marx's dictum: 'In every society, the ideas of the rulers are the ruling ideas.' His mission as a writer is to challenge that monopoly and show that better, more humane ways of thinking are possible.

"--Adam Kirsch, author of The Revolt Against Humanity "Scialabba is unsurpassed in the clarity of his perceptions, the breadth of his humane learning, and the depth of his moral seriousness--always leavened by lively prose and ready wit. He is one of our finest independent social thinkers."--Jackson Lears, author of Animal Spirits.