"In no small part as a result of his acute grasp of Strauss’s being a philosopher, Behnegar has the honor of having authored the single best book on Strauss."-Weekly Standard

The Weekly Standard

"Strauss’s criticisms of Weber are among the most powerful and challenging that have been made. . . . Behnegar has provided a very detailed exposition of Strauss’s main criticisms of both Weber and the state of social science."–Peter Lassman, Max Weber Studies

Peter Lassman | Max Weber Studies

“It is easy to come upon sweeping denunciations of Strauss, but difficult to find any serious engagement with what he actually wrote. This dearth of textual criticism has now been partially remedied by Boston College political scientist Nasser Behnegar . . . . Behnegar proves himself familiar with Strauss’s entire corpus, from his early studies on Spinoza, Maimonides, and Hobbes to his later essays, some published only posthumously. . . . Throughout his book, Behnegar manifests great doggedness and genuine openness of mind. These traits, also evident in Strauss himself, enable Behnegar to get inside the latter’s universe of discourse, and to prove that Strauss was not an enemy but ‘a friend, perhaps an indispensable friend’ of political science. . . . Behnegar beautifully manages the difficult task of being sympathetic both to Weber’s work and to Strauss’s dissection of his work. . . . He has written a book Strauss would have saluted, for he never fiddles and he knows that Rome burns.”–Werner J. Danhauser, The Public Interest

Werner J. Danhauser | The Public Interest

“[This] is the best book-length study of Strauss to date, because like Strauss, Behnegar has a naïve concern for discovering a scientific (theoretical) perspective on politics, whether ancient or modern.”

Rafael Major | Perspectives on Political Science