Political Apocalypse

Fyodor Dostoevsky is one of the great literary figures. He has often been regarded as a prophet foretelling the rise of totalitarian socialism in Russia. But his political vision had deep spiritual roots. His recognition that atheistic materialism had gripped the mind of modern man, who in turn erected "a second tower of Babel...in the place of the high ideals created by Christ," moved him to craft a fiction that resisted the secularization of existence. Dostoevsky's searing struggle with the question of God is famously presented in the legend of the Grand Inquisitor in The Brothers Karamazov. Ellis Sandoz's Political Apocalypse illuminates Dostoevsky's achievement and is regarded by many scholars as an essential, masterful work in its own right. Malcolm V. Jones, in his introduction to the Everyman's Library edition of The Brothers Karamazov, writes that "Sandoz's magnificent book on the 'Legend of the Grand Inquisitor' is required reading."

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What They're Saying...

"Sandoz gives a convincing account of the 'Legend' as 'an allegory of the cosmic drama of the creation as this is played out in the history of mankind and in the microcosm of the human soul....' Sandoz's explication of this powerful work will make readers want to tackle it themselves, and reach their own conclusions."
— National Review

"There have been several interpretations of Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor; none is as satisfying, as full, or as provocative as that offered by Ellis Sandoz."
— Times Literary Supplement