Professor Ira Katznelson is the recipient of the 2005 David and Elaine Spitz Prize for the best book in liberal and/or democratic theory. His book,
Desolation and Enlightenment: Political Knowledge after Total War, Totalitarianism, and the Holocaust (Columbia University Press, 2003), examines the writings of scholars and historians who came together to redefine and reinvigorate Western liberal ideals after the devastating effects of World War II. The scholars examined in this major intellectual history include Hannah Arendt, Robert Dahl, Richard Hofstadter, Harold Lasswell, Charles Lindblom, Karl Polanyi and David Truman.
