"Since the death of political theorist Leo Strauss in 1973, American interpreters have heatedly debated his intellectual legacy. Daniel Tanguay, a French-Canadian scholar who was trained in France, recovers Strauss from the atmosphere of partisan debate that has dominated American journalistic, political, and academic discussions of his work. Tanguay offers in an accessible way, and in crystal-clear prose, the first assessment of the whole of Strauss' thought, a daunting task owing to the vastness and scope of the theorist's writings. This comprehensive overview, faithfully and clearly rendered in English by Christopher Nadon, is indispensable for anyone seeking to understand the philosophy and legacy of Strauss." "Tanguay gives special attention to the philosopher's little-known formative years, 1920-1938, during which he elaborated the theme of his research, what he called the "theologico-political problem." Tanguay shows the connection of this theme to other major elements in Strauss' thought, such as the conflict between Athens and Jerusalem, the quarrel between the ancients and the moderns, the return to classical natural right, the art of esoteric writing, and his critique of modernity. In so doing, the author approaches what is at the heart of the work of Strauss: God and politics. Rescuing Strauss from polemics and ill-defined generalizations about his ideas, Tanguay provides instead an important and timely analysis of a major philosophical thinker of the twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET.