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CHOICE Review

Seery's goal--to provide a political theory for the antinuclear movement--is novel and appealing. He seeks to show that an ironic understanding of politics is needed insofar as it originates in the recognition that full morality and complete truth are impossible. He traces irony back to Greek tragedy and the use of indirect statement or fiction for speaking about the human condition. Seery also insists upon understanding Plato as ironic, independently of what he reports about Socratic irony and devotes the major part of his book to showing the errors of previous Plato scholars. Here he fails miserably, misrepresenting the views of the authors he criticizes by citing them incorrectly and by taking their views out of context. Especially illustrative of these faults is his reading of Leo Strauss. Moreover, the book never gets beyond this "review of the literature" stage: rather than leading to the core of his ironic understanding of politics, it constitutes the core. Although written with grace and containing a solid bibliography, it remains massively flawed and thus cannot be recommended. C. E. Butterworth University of Maryland at College Park