{"title":"Mark Lilla","description":"Mark Lilla was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1956, and was educated at the University of Michigan and Harvard University. He is currently Professor of the Humanities at Columbia, where he focuses on Western political and religious thought. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, and publications worldwide. His books, which have been translated into more than a dozen languages, include The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics (2017), The Shipwrecked Mind: On Political Reaction (2016), and The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics (2001). His most recent book is Ignorance and Bliss: On Wanting Not to Know (2024).","products":[{"product_id":"the-once-and-future-liberal-after-identity-politics-paperback","title":"The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom one of the most internationally admired political thinkers, a controversial polemic on the failures of identity politics and what comes next for the left -- in America and beyond.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing the shocking results of the US election of 2016, public intellectuals across the globe offered theories and explanations, but few were met with such vitriol, panic, and debate as Mark Lilla's. \u003cem\u003eThe Once and Future Liberal \u003c\/em\u003eis a passionate plea to liberals to turn from the divisive politics of identity and develop a vision of the future that can persuade all citizens that they share a common destiny.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDriven by a sincere desire to protect society's most vulnerable, the left has unwittingly balkanized the electorate, encouraged self-absorption rather than solidarity, and invested its energies in social movements rather than party politics. Identity-focused individualism has insidiously conspired with amoral economic individualism to shape an electorate with little sense of a shared future and near-contempt for the idea of the common good.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow is the time to re-build a sense of common feeling and purpose, and a sense of duty to one another. A fiercely argued, important book, enlivened by acerbic wit and erudition, \u003cem\u003eThe Once and Future Liberal \u003c\/em\u003eis essential reading for our times.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51365575459039,"sku":"9780062697455","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/yVzZcFwYC69780062697455.webp?v=1789066462"},{"product_id":"ignorance-and-bliss-on-wanting-not-to-know-paperback","title":"Ignorance and Bliss: On Wanting Not to Know - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A wise and wonderfully enjoyable book. Mark Lilla treats weighty matters with a light touch, in an elegant prose style that crackles with dry wit . . . Invigorating.\" --John Banville, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA dazzling exploration of our wish to remain innocent and ignorant--and its consequences. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAristotle claimed that \"all human beings want to know.\" Our own experience proves that all human beings also want not to know. Today, centuries after the Enlightenment, mesmerized crowds still follow preposterous prophets, irrational rumors trigger fanatical acts, and magical thinking crowds out common sense and expertise. Why is this? Where does this will to ignorance come from, and how does it continue to shape our lives? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eIgnorance and Bliss\u003c\/i\u003e, the acclaimed essayist and historian of ideas Mark Lilla offers an absorbing psychological diagnosis of the human will not to know. With erudition and brio, Lilla ranges from the Book of Genesis and Plato's dialogues to Sufi parables and Sigmund Freud, revealing the paradoxes of hiding truth from ourselves. He also exposes the fantasies this impulse lead us to entertain--the illusion that the ecstasies of prophets, mystics, and holy fools offer access to esoteric truths; the illusion of children's lamb-like innocence; and the nostalgic illusion of recapturing the glories of vanished and allegedly purer civilizations. The result is a highly original meditation that invites readers to consider their own deep-seated impulses and taboos. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eWe want to know, we want not to know. We accept truth, we resist truth. Back and forth the mind shuttles, playing badminton with itself. But it doesn't feel like a game. It feels as if our lives are at stake. And they are.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51377739006175,"sku":"9781250397843","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/CFUsoOf4y99781250397843.webp?v=1789240063"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/mark-lilla.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}