French Literature Reviews - 2026
Z. Sternhell, The Anti-Enlightenment: An Intellectual Tradition from the Eighteenth Century to the Cold War (Expanded Edition)
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
Zeev Sternhell:
THE ANTI-ENLIGHTENMENT: An Intellectual Tradition from the Eighteenth Century to the Cold War
Revised and expanded edition, 944 pages, illustrated softcover, 108 x 178 mm.
Folio Histoire Series (No. 176) (2010),
Gallimard. ISBN 9782070318186. Publication date: 30-04-2010.
12.40 €
Opposed to the Enlightenment and its universal values, which continue to underpin democratic societies, another tradition has emerged and persisted from the eighteenth century to the present day. This alternative modernity wages intellectual warfare through a coherent body of arguments, sustained by the close engagement its proponents have shared with one another's works across generations.
Taine wrote on Burke and Carlyle; Meinecke on Burke and Herder—the latter hailed by Renan as a "philosopher-king." De Maistre followed Burke and was in turn followed by Maurras; Sorel attacked the Enlightenment with a venom matching that of Maurras. Building on Herder's thought, Spengler forged the concept of cultural impermeability; advancing Herder's analyses, Isaiah Berlin wrote on Vico with a delight akin to Croce's. Influenced by Meinecke, Berlin added a new link to the political culture of the Anti-Enlightenment in the latter half of the twentieth century.
This demonstrates that the perils against which the Enlightenment fought are perennial: to prevent twenty-first-century humanity from plunging into a new glacial age of conformity, the visionary perspective of the individual taking charge of their present, if not their future, remains indispensable.
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P. Assouline's review of this book can be read on *La République des livres*:
The Anti-Enlightenment examines a tradition that emerged in the eighteenth century in opposition to Enlightenment universal values. This alternative modernity is characterized by a body of arguments sustained by the engagement of proponents with one another's works across generations. Figures such as Taine, Burke, Herder, de Maistre, Maurras, Sorel, Spengler, and Berlin have contributed to this intellectual history, which persists into the present day. By tracing these connections, the work illustrates the continuity of these critiques from the eighteenth century through the twentieth century.
The text documents how specific concepts, such as cultural impermeability, have been developed and transmitted through this intellectual tradition. It addresses the ongoing tension between universal values and the alternative modernity proposed by these critics. Readers interested in the history of political ideas and the evolution of European intellectual thought may find this examination of the Anti-Enlightenment tradition relevant.