Between the French Revolution and the Socialist rising of 1848, there developed in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Austria a considerable body of political thought by Catholic scholars and public men. The great aim of these writers was somehow to reconcile the traditional European order with the demand for increased freedom: the tension of authority and liberty.

For the most part, the writings of these men of theory have been difficult to obtain in the English-speaking world. Menczer makes available an intelligent selection of such materials, drawn from Maistre, Bonald, Chateaubriand, Balzac, Metternich, Schlegel, Donoso Cortes, Balmes, and Veuillot, who while differing all sought to avert another outburst of fanatic revolution. These political thinkers of the first half of the nineteenth century seem more prescient than were their melioristic adversaries.

The totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century were predicted by them, and both order and freedom, as they feared, were overthrown by squalid oligarchs in many countries. Menczer's introduction and notes aid greatly in the understanding of the scholars and statesmen he discusses. This volume is important for normative political thinkers.