Equality, Decadence, and Modernity: The Collected Essays of Stephen J. Tonsor

Over the course of the past four decades Stephen J. Tonsor, professor emeritus of European intellectual history at the University of Michigan, has made a reputation within the conservative intellectual movement as a trenchant thinker, forceful writer, and witty, sometimes caustic, lecturer. But without a book to introduce his thought to the wider public, Tonsor has remained largely unknown outside conservative circles. For many readers, then, this generous collection, edited by historian Gregory Schneider, will serve as an enlightening introduction to the work of a man who is among the most penetrating of conservative thinkers. Equality, Decadence, and Modernity features substantial excerpts from Tonsor?s two book-length unpublished manuscripts, "Decadence" and "Equality," as well as insightful essays on conservative thought and politics. Among other pieces, this volume includes Tonsor?s controversial polemic, "Why I Too Am Not a Neoconservative." "Halfway from modernity is not far enough" , asserted Tonsor in this essay. Yet Tonsor?s critique of modernity, and much else, is complex and always intelligent. With the publication of Equality, Decadence, and Modernity, readers may now share in, and profit from, that intelligence.