The Soul of Politics - by Glenn Ellmers

About the Book

"Harry V. Jaffa (1918-2015), professor at Claremont McKenna College and Distinguished Fellow of the Claremont Institute, was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. His hundreds of students have reached positions of power and prestige throughout the intellectual and political world, including the Supreme Court and the Trump White House. Jaffa authored Barry Goldwater's famous 1964 Republican Convention speech which declared, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." William F. Buckley, Jaffa's close friend and a key figure in shaping the modern conservative movement, wrote, "If you think it is hard arguing with Harry Jaffa, try agreeing with him." His widely acclaimed book Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1959), was the first scholarly work to treat Abraham Lincoln as a serious philosophic thinker. As the earliest protâegâe of the controversial scholar Leo Strauss, Jaffa turned his theoretical insights to understanding the United States as the "best regime" in principle. He saw the American Revolution and the Civil War as world-historical events that revealed the true nature of politics. Statesmanship, constitutional government, and the virtues of republican citizenship are keys to unlocking the most important truths of political philosophy. Jaffa's student, Glenn Ellmers, was given complete access to Jaffa's private papers at Hillsdale College to produce the first comprehensive examination of his teacher's vast body of work. In addition to Lincoln and the founding fathers, the book shares Jaffa's profound insights into Aristotle, Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, and more"--

Book Synopsis

Harry V. Jaffa (1918-2015), professor at Claremont McKenna College and Distinguished Fellow of the Claremont Institute, was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. His hundreds of students have reached positions of power and prestige throughout the intellectual and political world, including the Supreme Court and the Trump White House.

Jaffa authored Barry Goldwater's famous 1964 Republican Convention speech which declared, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." William F. Buckley, Jaffa's close friend and a key figure in shaping the modern conservative movement, wrote, "If you think it is hard arguing with Harry Jaffa, try agreeing with him." His widely acclaimed book Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1959), was the first scholarly work to treat Abraham Lincoln as a serious philosophic thinker.

As the earliest protégé of the controversial scholar Leo Strauss, Jaffa turned his theoretical insights to understanding the United States as the "best regime" in principle. He saw the American Revolution and the Civil War as world-historical events that revealed the true nature of politics. Statesmanship, constitutional government, and the virtues of republican citizenship are keys to unlocking the most important truths of political philosophy.

Jaffa's student, Glenn Ellmers, was given complete access to Jaffa's private papers at Hillsdale College to produce the first comprehensive examination of his teacher's vast body of work. In addition to Lincoln and the founding fathers, the book shares Jaffa's profound insights into Aristotle, Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, and more.

Review Quotes

Surprisingly, this is the first book-length treatment of Harry V. Jaffa's life and thought. There will be others, but they will all build on The Soul of Politics, which is, next to Jaffa's own works, now the gateway to the serious study of his thought.--Charles R. Kesler, editor, Claremont Review of Books, Dengler-Dykema Distinguished Professor of Government

Just as Socrates was said to have brought philosophy down out the clouds to bear on the judgments of right and wrong we need to make every day, Harry Jaffa brought Leo Strauss down out of the clouds, for he managed to show how the vast tradition of political philosophy would bear on the gravest crisis of the American regime. Glenn Ellmers finally puts Jaffa himself in the story as a philosopher that Americans should study on into the next generations. And it comes at the time of another grave crisis in our regime.--Hadley Arkes, Edward Ney Professor Emeritus of Jurisprudence, Amherst College

It is, sadly, no longer possible to receive an education from the late Harry V. Jaffa, who trained dozens of fortunate students over a remarkable half-century career. But this book provides the next best thing. Ellmers's account makes Jaffa's wide-ranging oeuvre accessible to readers with little prior knowledge of his work. And read carefully, The Soul of Politics proves to be more than a mere scholarly commentary but is, like Jaffa's own work, a philosophic engagement with the ideas it confronts.--Michael Anton, Lecturer in Politics, Hillsdale College, former National Security Council official

Years from now, our children and our children's children will still be celebrating Harry Jaffa's life work and the liberty that was so preciously purchased with the lives, the fortunes, and the sacred honor of the founders in 1776 at our nation's birth. ... Harry Jaffa reminds us of [the founders'] great achievements in the fight for freedom and enables us to pass on their great legacy to a new generation of Americans.--Justice Clarence Thomas (speech to the Claremont Institute, 1999)