Professor Emeritus Daniel J. Mahoney Wins Prestigious Book of the Year Award

Apr 05, 2023

Professor Emeritus Daniel Mahoney, Ph.D. was selected as the recipient of the prestigious Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s 2023 Paolucci Award: Conservative Book of the Year for his book, The Statesman as Thinker: Portraits of Greatness, Courage, and Moderation.

In order to be chosen for this honor, the winning book must “advance the understanding of conservative principles, make an outstanding contribution to the literature of the subject, and avoid factional or partisan argumentation,” according to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s (ISI) website.

In The Statesman as Thinker, Professor Emeritus Mahoney details how notable statesmen throughout history have “struggled to preserve freedom during times of crisis” while making “sense of the mixture of magnanimity and moderation that defines the statesman as thinker at his or her best.” He writes, “That admirable mixture of greatness, courage, and moderation owes much to classical and Christian wisdom and to the noble desire to protect the inheritance of civilization against rapacious and destructive despotic regimes and ideologies.” 

The winner of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s Conservative Book of the Year award also receives a $10,000 cash prize for his or her contribution “to the rich debate about important conservative ideas,” the ISI’s website continues. 

During his tenure at Assumption University, Mahoney was a professor of political science (1986-2021) and held the Distinguished Chair in Augustine Scholarship. A specialist in French political philosophy, anti-totalitarian thought, and the intersection of religion and politics, Mahoney is the author or editor of twelve books including Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Ascent from Ideology (2001); The Conservative Foundations of the Liberal Order (2010); The Other Solzhenitsyn: Telling the Truth About a Misunderstood Writer and Thinker (2014); and The Idol of Our Age: How the Religion of Humanity Subverts Christianity (2018).  

In 1999, Mahoney was awarded the Prix Raymond Aron. He is a senior fellow at the Real Clear Foundation, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, a senior writer at Law and Liberty, executive editor of Perspectives on Political Science, and a Trustee of National Review Institute