The Monarchy of Fear

Reviews / Votes

Review from previous edition Nussbaum develops her analysis of fear, anger, disgust and envy with a rich array of examples from literature and the law (two longstanding areas of interest for her). And the results are illuminating. * Jonathan Derbyshire, Financial Times * ambitious new book ... Nussbaum's fundamental idealism is undiminished by the coarseness of our time. * Charles Kaiser, The Guardian * One of the virtues of this slender volume is how gradually and scrupulously it moves, as Nussbaum pushes you to slow down, think harder and revisit your knee-jerk assumptions. * New York Times * A fascinating book ... boy, does Nussbaum write well. It's incredibly readable. * John Shand, Times Higher Education * New readers get what amounts to a vivid introduction to a lot of [Nussbaum's] recent work ... A manifesto for hope and mutual sympathy is a welcome change from the dystopian tone of much contemporary political commentary. * Alan Ryan, Literary Review * [Nussbaum's] writing over 30 years has done so much to bring human impulses into the realm of political discourse. When she argues that we can reduce social envy by increasing what is constituted as a universal 'right' ... or connects Nelson Mandela's magnanimous treatment of his enemies to his freedom from bodily disgust ... it's clear that she has given more thought to such processes than virtually anyone else alive. * Leo Robson, New Statesman * Nussbaum is one of the most accomplished political and moral philosophers of our time...there is almost no domain of political and moral life and thought that her work and apparently endless curiosity have not explored. * William Adams, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts * Nussbaum is an elegant and lyrical writer, and she movingly describes the pain of recognizing one's vulnerability... * Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker * A philosopher considers Trumpism through the lens of history, classical thought, and a bit of Hamilton. Like any clearheaded thinker, Nussbaum was unsettled by Trump's election, but she's troubled also by the way people of all political persuasions have succumbed to fear and mindless fear-slinging. She tries to keep Trump at arm's length and focus instead on what philosophers and psychologists going back to antiquity have had to say about fear...its role in stoking anger, disgust, and envy, and how those emotions in turn perpetuate divisive politics (sexism and misogyny especially). That approach gives this important book both up-to-the-moment relevance and long-view gravitas...An engaging and inviting study of humanity's long-standing fear of the other. * Kirkus Reviews *