Lies Archives | National Humanities Center

Lies

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The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics

By Martin Jay (NHC Fellow, 2005–06) When Michael Dukakis accused George H. W. Bush of being the "Joe Isuzu of American Politics" during the 1988 presidential campaign, he asserted in a particularly American tenor the near-ancient idea that lying and politics (and perhaps advertising, too) are inseparable, or at least intertwined. Our response to this … Continued

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Ways of Lying: Dissimulation, Persecution, and Conformity in Early Modern Europe

By Perez Zagorin (NHC Fellow, 1978–79) The religious persecution and intellectual intolerance of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries compelled many heterodox groups and thinkers to resort to misdirection, hidden meaning, secrecy, and deceit. In this highly unusual interpretation, Perez Zagorin traces the theory and practice of religious leaders, philosophers, intellectuals, and men of letters who … Continued