Fools, Frauds and Firebrands

Thinkers of the New Left

By: Roger Scruton

Narrated by: Rory Barnett

From one of the leading critics of leftist orientations comes a study of the thinkers who have most influenced the attitudes of the New Left. Beginning with a ruthless analysis of New Leftism and concluding with a critique of the key strands in its thinking, Roger Scruton conducts a reappraisal of such major left-wing thinkers as E. P. Thompson, Ronald Dworkin, R. D. Laing, Jurgen Habermas, Gyorgy Lukacs, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Derrida, Slavoj Žižek, Ralph Milliband, and Eric Hobsbawm. In addition to assessments of these thinkers' philosophical and political contributions, the book contains a biographical and bibliographical section summarizing their careers and most important writings.

In Fools, Frauds and Firebrands Scruton asks, what does the Left look like today, and how has it evolved? He charts the transfer of grievances, from the working class to women, gays, and immigrants, asks what we can put in the place of radical egalitarianism, and what explains the continued dominance of antinomian attitudes in the intellectual world. Can there be any foundation for resistance to the leftist agenda without religious faith? Writing with great clarity, Scruton delivers a devastating critique of modern left-wing thinking.

©2015 Roger Scruton (P)2018 Tantor

An Explanation of The Politics of 2020

I highly recommend this book to anyone that wishes for a better understanding of the sources of the Chaos, from the 'Left' that has dominated our Politics of the past 12 years and beyond.

Exhaustive

A rigorous journey through mountains of human hogwash and oceans of abject cluelessness by many past thinkers that I now know to dismiss rather than waste my time with.

The Delivery From the (Prevalent) Nonsense

Through a resourceful and deep analysis, Scruton is the maverick thinker that enables us all to confront the acclaimed “newspeak” (of course) from the Academia and demolishes it through rigorous arguments and a scholarly culture.
Essential reading for a world adrift.

very informative with sufficient background

a bit convoluted but only because I lack the sufficient background in contemporary philosophy.

Excellent Author, Excellent Narrator

Roger Scruton lands many sharp—if not fatal—critiques on the modern, new Left. Conservatives will benefit from his shrewd commentary on Gramsci's false dichotomy. Gramsci presumes the difference between those on the political Left and Right as favoring either communism or fascism, respectively. It is a ploy used by some of today's journalists to demonize conservative perspectives, and yet it is also a regurgitation from the playbook of a Marxist zealot who died 80+ years ago. Confounding figures like Calvin Coolidge, meanwhile, remain absolutely neglected by Gramsci and journalists who follow him. Lukács, another Leftist thinker examined in this book, is every bit as intolerant as Leftists on Twitter imagine conservatives as being. The reader/listener will come across many similarly astute insights into the most hallowed authors of postmodernism.

Liberals would undoubtedly benefit from listening to this book as a way to understand a prominent conservative's serious critiques of the New Left. But the book will also be quite spicy.

Equally wonderful is this audiobook's narrator, Rory Barnett. He masterfully inflects the book's sophisticated prose so that the reader has no trouble following dense passages, such as Scruton's critiques of what he calls the Parisian School of Nonsense. His tone is lively and engaging, making a book critiquing postmodern thought into an enjoyable listen. I will be looking to read more of Scruton, and to listen to more of Rory Barnett.