Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0691077649, Hardcover)

"[His commitment to democratic radicalism] has made Barber one of the leading--he is also one of the most intelligent--representatives of contemporary republican political theory. He is . . . a passionate advocate of participation, citizenship, and civic virtue." --Michael Walzer, New York Review of Books Addressing the thought of six major twentieth-century philosophers Bertrand Russell, John Rawls, Robert Nozick, Bruce Ackerman, Michael Oakeshott, and Alasdair MacIntyre --Benjamin Barber maintains that each of them has aided in the "conquest of politics" by abstract and speculative philosophy. In this lively and accessible book Barber proposes a way of doing political philosophy that does take practical politics into account. "The Conquest of Politics is replete with . . . droll and nimble wit. . . . While deflating the sometimes arcane and pretentious prose of philosophers, Mr. Barber's own style succeeds admirably in approximating the riposte of good political conversation." --Francis Kane, New York Times Book Review