First published 1990
Paul Johnson takes aim at intellectual giants from Rousseau to Chomsky in this provocative examination of famous thinkers throughout history. Johnson argues that many celebrated intellectuals lived lives that contradicted their public philosophies and moral teachings. He dissects the personal failings of figures like Marx, Tolstoy, Sartre, and Lillian Hellman, revealing hypocrisy, cruelty, and moral blindness behind their brilliant ideas. Johnson demonstrates how these thinkers often treated their families, friends, and followers badly while preaching about justice and human dignity. The book challenges readers to question whether personal character matters when evaluating intellectual contributions. Johnson offers a skeptical view of intellectual authority and warns against blindly following even the most celebrated minds.
Genres: philosophy, 20th-century, political-science, non-fiction, biography-memoir, criticism, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century, 21st-century
385 pages · Paperback · HarpPeren