Kingmaker Hegel
Courtesan, Diplomat, Kingmaker
Sonia Purnell | LitHub | 20th September 2024
Pamela Harriman was "arguably the most famous diplomat in the world and the most powerful courtesan in history". Born to English aristocrats, she was introduced to Adolf Hitler by Unity Mitford, divorced the son of Winston Churchill, and befriended both JFK and the Gorbachevs. She "played a part in ending the Cold War" and served as Clinton's ambassador to France (1,600 words)
Right-Hegel Meets Left-Hegel
David P. Goldman | Tablet | 19th September 2024
On the origins of Francis Fukuyama's "end of history" thesis. It originated as a Marxist conceit from Alexandre Kojève, a Russian-born French philosopher and apologist for Stalin. Together with Leo Strauss, Kojève taught Fukuyama their "shared misreading" of Hegel. These ideas then went mainstream, informing even the political justification for the 2000s-era "war on terror" (2,800 words)