The Right-Wing Mirror of Critical Theory

Reviews / Votes

A sorely needed intervention into critical theory in the twenty-first century ... The Right-Wing Mirror of Critical Theory is necessary reading for anyone interested in a rigorous analysis of the right, as well as for critical theorists dedicated to formulating a politics worthy of the future. * The Review of Politics * Larry Busk's The Right Wing Mirror of Critical Theory is a book many of us have been waiting for. Functioning also as a trenchant critique of right wing philosophy, the book's main contribution is patiently showing how the trendy forms of "anti-foundationalism" and "anti-rationalism," which have long dominated left-critical theory, echo the reactionaries' cry. Funny, lucid, and above all brave, The Right Wing Mirror of Critical Theory calls on progressives to remember we can remake the world anew, and better. -- Matt McManus, University of Michigan, author of The Political Right and Equality (Routledge 2023) With his signature acumen, Busk critically engages with the arguments of some of the most influential rightwing thinkers of the contemporary world. His objective is not simply to show that they are incorrect, but-more importantly-to demonstrate the necessity of a coherent and systemic left politics that embraces, unlike much of the Western left intelligentsia, the need for a self-consciously constructed and rationally planned socio-political project of emancipation. This is an urgent call to critically dismantle the right while reinventing the left! -- Gabriel Rockhill, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Villanova University Larry Busk's most recent book can be counted as an important, if unsettling intervention... The Right-Wing Mirror of Critical Theory is a welcome challenge to widespread theoretical beliefs. * Contemporary Political Theory * Busk's analysis of right-wing thought is always illuminating and fresh, and is a welcome contribution to the growing array of sophisticated left-wing interpretations of the right. * Marx and Philosophy Review of Books * This book could not be timelier, nor the questions it raises for the Left, more vital. * New Political Science *