Julien Benda (1867–1956) was a novelist and critic. His polemical writings ranged from Dialogues in Byzantium (on the Dreyfus affair) to an appraisal of the philosophy of Henri Bergson; in later life he was a fierce critic of the Vichy Republic. Among his other books are The Yoke of Pity, Uriel’s Report, and Exercises of a Man Buried Alive.David Broder is a widely published translator and the author of First They Took Rome: How the Populist Right Conquered Italy. He is currently Europe Editor at Jacobin.Mark Lilla is Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and a prizewinning essayist for The New York Review of Books and other publications worldwide. His books include The Shipwrecked Mind: On Political Reaction; The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West; The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics; and The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Benda's book is the great twentieth-century defense of intellectual integrity. It has become extraordinarily timely again at a moment when social criticism often routes itself through the particular loyalties of racial, religious, and national identity.

Julien Benda (1867–1956) was a novelist and critic. His polemical writings ranged from Dialogues in Byzantium (on the Dreyfus affair) to an appraisal of the philosophy of Henri Bergson; in later life he was a fierce critic of the Vichy Republic. Among his other books are The Yoke of Pity, Uriel’s Report, and Exercises of a Man Buried Alive.David Broder is a widely published translator and the author of First They Took Rome: How the Populist Right Conquered Italy. He is currently Europe Editor at Jacobin.Mark Lilla is Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and a prizewinning essayist for The New York Review of Books and other publications worldwide. His books include The Shipwrecked Mind: On Political Reaction; The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West; The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics; and The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Benda's book is the great twentieth-century defense of intellectual integrity. It has become extraordinarily timely again at a moment when social criticism often routes itself through the particular loyalties of racial, religious, and national identity.

Julien Benda (1867–1956) was a novelist and critic. His polemical writings ranged from Dialogues in Byzantium (on the Dreyfus affair) to an appraisal of the philosophy of Henri Bergson; in later life he was a fierce critic of the Vichy Republic. Among his other books are The Yoke of Pity, Uriel’s Report, and Exercises of a Man Buried Alive.David Broder is a widely published translator and the author of First They Took Rome: How the Populist Right Conquered Italy. He is currently Europe Editor at Jacobin.Mark Lilla is Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and a prizewinning essayist for The New York Review of Books and other publications worldwide. His books include The Shipwrecked Mind: On Political Reaction; The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West; The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics; and The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Benda's book is the great twentieth-century defense of intellectual integrity. It has become extraordinarily timely again at a moment when social criticism often routes itself through the particular loyalties of racial, religious, and national identity.