A political examination of how twentieth century intellectuals were entrapped by the dictatorial ideologies of their time.
'The Reckless Mind' is a study of how a number of important twentieth-century European intellectuals came to support tyrannical regimes and totalitarian political ideas. Lilla demonstrates how the convulsions of the twentieth century shaped the political sensibilities of important thinkers who were so deluded by the ideologies of the time that they closed their eyes to brutality, coercion, and state terror.