Willmoore Kendall Contra Mundum

by Willmoore Kendall

A posthumous collection originally published by 1971 by Arlington House, this reprinted edition includes for the first time Kendall's provocative essay, "The 'Open Society' and its Fallacies"-as relevant today as when it was first written. The essays, speeches, and part of a projected book included in this work direct the reader's attention to subjects that reflect the general theme running through all of Kendall's political thought-the ways that majority rule can bring about government that is sound and just.

658 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kendall was one of the finest American political philosophers of the 20th century. He was also a real character. Some of his exploits are the stuff of legend: a master debater and natural maverick, he became the only professor ever to have his contract bought out by an Ivy League school -- Yale eventually tired of his fearsome polemics. He learned to read at age two, and within several years he was on the road with his father (and itinerant preacher), reading Plato or Aquinas to him.

Personal eccentricities aside, Kendall's work is a lasting testament to the American political tradition which he cherished. No man ever wrote with such reverence and penetration about The Federalist; few men ever wrote so boldly about the First Amendment. None have ever duplicated his singular style.

[Dave · Rating 1 out of 5]

Willmoore Kendall is from my native state; so I had an inborn bias to like him. However, his thought is so shallow and his prose so serpentine as to make this collection of essays almost unreadable. He fails miserably in both style and substance. Too bad.