A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year
[A] stellar and timely contribution. . . . In Liberalism in Dark Times, Cherniss has done us a great service by pointing us toward the examples [Camus, Aron, Niebuhr, and Berlin] set in their times. In our own times, as we continue to wrestle with the liberal predicament, we would do well to follow their lead.---Daniel Stid, American Purpose
Cherniss . . . is to be commended for writing the first book-length study on the historical origins and ethical nature of Cold War liberalism.---Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, The Baffler
[A] fascinating book.---G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs
In this terrifically rich, scholarly, and stimulating book, Cherniss seeks to recover a way of thinking about liberalism as a response to the problem of ruthlessness. . . . Liberalism in Dark Times is a vital book for those who are not willing to give up on [liberalism] quite yet.---Matt Sleat, Perspectives on Politics
Thoughtful and clearly presented. * Choice Reviews *
Liberalism in Dark Times is a historically sensitive presentation of what Cherniss reconstructs as a tempered liberalism within the interwar period, the Second World War and the Cold War as reservoirs for the political thinking of Aron, Berlin, Camus and Niebuhr. . . . the book is not only deep in its detailed readings of Weber, Lukacs, Camus, Aron, Niebuhr and Berlin, but also broad- and open-minded in the intellectual engagements with the variety of traditions and positions in contemporary political theory.---Anders Berg-Sorensen, Contemporary Political Theory
A persistent political temptation is to fight fire with fire-to defend liberalism by illiberal means, to become ruthlessly liberal. In Cherniss's hands, the liberal predicament becomes the challenge of sustaining the moral fortitude to refuse ruthlessness. . . . Ruthlessness corrodes the liberal ethos, eventually transforming us into our foes---Robert B. Talisse, Review of Politics
Liberalism in Dark Times [is] an important, impressive and well documented book. . . .A much needed study now that the liberal democracies face the rise of autocratic governments around the world as well as the rise of internal autocratic movements.---Joseph C. Bertolini, The European Legacy
Cherniss extracts continuities across his cohort of thinkers with singular rigor and richness; he continually teases out meaningful distinctions between the positions these figures held, the subtle but significant degrees of emphasis on realism or idealism that distinguish their respective characters and conclusions; and he provides an especially enlivening view of the way that each thinker's personal experiences shaped their liberal temper. . . . As an historical study, peering into the lives and minds of major midcentury thinkers, this book seems to me exemplary. Every text Cherniss engages with yields suggestive nuances through his careful analysis.---Ian Afflerbach, H-Diplo
Important and original. . . .Liberalism in Dark Times remains one of the best studies of its kind.---Iain Stewart, History of European Ideas