Abstract

Stephen Holmes' anthology provides the paper trail for a remarkably successful academic career. Despite his meager output of mostly journalistic essays on Hobbes, Schmitt, and Leo Strauss, his star rose early and brilliantly. By his early forties Holmes was full professor at the University of Chicago, teaching in the law school and in several graduate departments. His success may be partly attributable to his zeal and persistence in defending a single cause. He maintains that the US government and US culture, based on the premise of individual autonomy, are somehow at risk. Allegedly, American liberalism is under assault from communitarian thinkers who do not believe in individual liberty.