Fear: The History of a Political Idea

Publishers Weekly

Foreign Affairs

In all, this book is a thoughtful, often brilliant, radical polemic against the insufficiencies and pitfalls of liberalism. And yet, in his very brief conclusion, it is to "the egalitarian and libertarian principles of Rawls and Dworkin and to the emancipatory strains of American liberalism more generally" that Robin appeals, despite doubts about their viability. Let us hope that in his next work he will try to construct a defense against political fear as spirited as this provocative and discouraging dissection of its multiple forms.

Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

"Robin's account of the place of fear in American life is refreshingly clear--and timely."--Tony Judt, New York Review of Books

"Nuanced and skillful...Robin's book suggests that the politics of fear and the long shadows cast by Guantanamo Bay detention camps and the Patriot Act's scope are not simply the result of a government that is out of control or a president who thinks that he's Gary Cooper in 'High Noon.'.... It arises out of liberalism's own paradoxical nature and attests to the deep ambivalence that we...exhibit in confronting fear."--Benjamin Barber, Los Angeles Times

"By means of an innovative rereading of four influential political theorists--Thomas Hobbes, Montesquieu, Alexis de Tocqueville and Hannah Arendt--Corey Robin offers a fascinating analysis of how we have formed many of our ideas about the role of fear in society."--New Statesman

"A thoughtful, often brilliant, radical polemic against the insufficiencies and pitfalls of liberalism.... Let us hope that in his next work he will try to construct a defense against political fear as spirited as this provocative and discouraging dissection of its multiple forms."--Stanley Hoffman, Foreign Affairs

"His book is an appeal for social democracy which American intellectuals and the political elite have abandoned since the New Deal.... With great lucidity, Robin identifies many disturbing excesses in thought and travesties in deed, all of which are bound up in some way with fear." --Michael Kimmage, New York Times Book Review

"A compelling book, an antidote to the present-day intellectual and political discourse. Important reading for political theorists, journalists, college students, and intelligent political leaders.... Highly recommended."--Choice

"What's most troubling about Robin's analysis of the emotional landscape of the American workplace is the implication that it conditions Americans to see sadism as a natural characteristic of politics. With increasing support for the death penalty, widespread tolerance of the abuse inflicted on prisoners of war at Abu Ghraib, and the Patriot Act's curtailing of civil rights, the publication of Fear: The History of a Political Idea could not be more relevant or timely."--Jane Credland, Tikkun

"Learned and original, Robin argues that whereas Hobbes and Arendt appreciated the political dimensions of fear, Montesquieu and Tocqueville relegated the idea to the realm of the psychological--a view of fear that has endured, blinding us to the self-serving ways elites deploy fear for political ends. Along the way, Robin delivers trenchant and original critiques of writers who deal with fear. The journalists Michael Ignatieff, Philip Gourevitch and their ilk, who have made a cottage industry of condemning genocide, come under withering criticism for implicitly romanticizing the mass killings they deplore.... When...Robin takes on a congealed conventional wisdom, he is at his best."--Newsday

"Given daily terror alerts and news reports of violence, Robin, professor of political science and contributor to New York Times Magazine, offers a sober analysis of fear's Janus-faced potential as a catalyst for economic progress and the raison d'être of repressive regimes. A brilliant synthesis of historical perspective and the critically revealing story of 'Fear, American Style,' the account explores the classics of political thought by Hobbes, Montesquieu and Tocqueville and the portrayal of evil by Arendt."--Publishers Weekly

"Brilliant.... What he does in Fear is show us, by carefully plotting the progress of modern fear politics from the Enlightenment to present day, that we are as dependent on fear as a political vehicle, if not more so, as we are the charades of left/right/middle factionalism."--National Post

"Liberalism, he insists, sends working men and women unprotected into battle against the forces of privilege, a battle they are bound to lose. Defeating fear, US-style, requires a new politics that actively confronts power rather than the current apologetic, ameliorative American liberalism. He may not be right that only a strong state can protect its citizens from fear (which is what, with Hobbes, he ends up arguing), but he makes a strong case that the job is too important to be left to the market."--Financial Times

"Fear is a central, but little investigated, concept in modern political thought. In a deft and well-written analysis of this crucial concept and its political implications, Corey Robin not only gives us a masterful survey of its history but also of its abuse by the Bush administration. Passionate, erudite, and partisan, this book is an original contribution to our political vocabulary."--Seyla Benhabib, Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, Yale University

"In the wake of 9/11, no emotion is more central to our politics and none is more misunderstood than fear. Corey Robin manages to strip bare the role fear plays in our political lives. His historical analysis is fresh, provocative and absolutely gripping. For all struggling to live as thinking people in the Age of Terror, he has written an essential text." --Mark Danner, author of The Massacre at El Mozote: A Parable of the Cold War

"I have several disagreements with Robin's learned book, but it is so brilliantly provocative that it should be widely read and debated."--John Patrick Diggins, Distinguished Professor of History, The Graduate Center, City University of New York

"In this timely and provocative work, Corey Robin provides an acute and sustained analysis of the very idea of fear, of the role of fear as an instrument of political rule and of its unacknowledged prevalence within our liberal democratic institutions. He makes a powerful case against those who defend a 'liberalism of fear' and contend that fear can be a source of moral and political regeneration." --Steven Lukes, Professor of Sociology, New York University

"A truly significant and highly original contribution to the understanding of the politics of fear, its consequences and ramifications, intended and unintended. What emerges is a complex picture of collaboration between various levels of government, civil society groups, manipulators and victims, governing elites and ordinary citizens, popular culture, management and workers. It provides, as no other work I know, a context for grappling with the post-9/11 world." --Sheldon S. Wolin, Professor of Politics Emeritus, Princeton University