Patriotism and Other Mistakes. By George Kateb. NewHaven: Yale University Press, 2006. 464p. $35.00.

Readers of George Kateb's previous work will recognize the author'sfamiliar voice in this collection of papers from the last 17 yearsor so. By turns earnest (“I know that I preach,” [p. 12]) andcavalier (“I know I am being arbitrary,” [p. 125]), Kateb is intenton plumbing the pernicious irrationalities that seduce us away fromhis favored stance, democratic individuality. His approach isliterary, freewheeling, elliptical. Theorists fond of analyticphilosophy will be impatient with how blurry and peremptory hisclaims can sound. Still, his is an instructive sensibility.