Liberal and Illiberal Arts

"With a lightness of touch and freshness of interpretation, Socher’s essays flash with wry humor and measured chagrin. They are also an eloquent, exacting defense of moral seriousness—and of Jewishness itself.”—Benjamin Balint, author of Kafka’s Last Trial

“These beautiful essays by a leading Jewish-American intellectual portray with minute precision our cultural moment—a pleasure and an alarm at one and the same time.”—Yitzhak Melamed, Charlotte Bloomberg Professor of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University, author of Spinoza’s Metaphysics: Substance and Thought

“In an era where our intellectual life is muddy with ideology, our religious life muddy with politics, our political life muddy with moral posturing, and our morality muddy with self-righteousness, Abe Socher performs an enormous public service and clears away the mud. In this moving collection, he offers us what we direly need: clarity.”—Dara Horn, author of People Love Dead Jews

“Few master the complexities of contemporary culture as deftly as Abraham P. Socher whose breadth of knowledge never fails to astonish. To all that he touches, he brings an uncommon blend of erudition, wit, and moral engagement.”—Steven J. Zipperstein, Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History, Stanford University, and author of Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History