POLITICS

American Conservatism

New in Paperback

NOMOS LVI

Modern Albania

Edited by Sanford V. Levinson, Joel Parker, and Melissa S. Williams

Fred C. Abrahams

Is there what might be termed an “exceptional” form of conservatism that is American characteristically American, Conservatism in contrast to conservatisms found in other countries? Are views that are identified in the United States as conservative necessarily congruent with what political theorists might classify under that label? Or does much American conservatism almost necessarily reflect the distinctly liberal background of American political thought? NOMOS LV I

From Dictatorship to Democracy in Europe

“Assiduously researched, compulsively readable”

Los Angeles Review of Books

“A richly woven work of narrative non-fiction”

The Spectator

Edited by

Sanford V. Levinson, Joel Parker, and Melissa S. Williams

In American Conservatism, a distinguished group of American political and legal scholars reflect on these crucial questions, unpacking the very nature and development of American conservative thought. They examine both the historical and contemporary realities of arguments offered by self-conscious conservatives in the United States, offering a wellrounded view of the state of this field. In addition to synoptic overviews of the various dimensions of American conservative thought, specific attention is paid to such topics as American constitutionalism, the role of religion and religious institutions, and the particular impact of the late Leo Strauss on American thought and thinkers. Just as American conservatism includes a wide, and sometimes conflicting, group of thinkers, the essays in this volume themselves reflect differing and sometimes controversial assessments of the theorists under discussion. SANFORD LEVINSON is W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Regents Chair in Law and Professor of Government at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance. MELISSA S. WILLIAMS is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Toronto. JOEL PARKER is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

MAY 448 PAGES • 2 black & white illustrations CLOTH • 978-1-4798-1237-0 • $65.00X (£45.00) In the NOMOS –American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy series PHILOSOPHY 16

N Y U PR E S S • SPR ING 2 0 1 6

In the early 1990s, Albania, arguably Europe’s most closed and repressive state, began a startling transition out of forty years of self-imposed Communist isolation. Albanians who were not allowed to practice religion, travel abroad, wear jeans, or read “decadent” Western literature began to devour the outside world. They opened cafés, companies, and newspapers. Previously banned rock music blared in the streets. Modern Albania offers a vivid history of the Albanian Communist regime’s fall and the trials and tribulations that led the country to become the state it is today. Fred Abrahams weaves together personal experience from more than twenty years of work in Albania, interviews with key Albanians and foreigners who played a role in the country’s politics since 1990—including former Politburo members, opposition leaders, intelligence agents, diplomats, and founders of the Kosovo Liberation Army—and a close examination of hundreds of previously secret government records from Albania and the United States. A rich, narratively-driven account, Modern Albania gives readers a front-row seat to the dramatic events of the last battle of Cold War Europe.

FRED C. ABRAHAMS is a special advisor at Human Rights Watch and a writer who has worked for twenty years in areas marred by political crises and armed conflict, including the Balkans and Middle East.

MARCH 384 PAGES PAPER • 978-1-4798-3809-7 • $25.00A (£16.99) CLOTH • 978-0-8147-0511-7 HISTORY 1.800.996.NYUP