This week from our special plans department, Leo Strauss: a guide for the perplexed. Politics, both ancient and modern; the allure of elite cabals; a whiskey spill Rorschach test; polemics, hermeneutics, and sex in the stacks. Plus—Iraq, intelligence, independence, and other declarations of the great atheist priest: Text. WORKS CITED: Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire (Yale University Press, 2004), by Anne Norton; The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss (University of Chicago Press, 2013), by Laurence Lampert; Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence (3rd ed., Potomac Books, 2002), by Abram N. Shulsky and Gary J. Schmitt; "Leo Strauss and the World of Intelligence (By Which We Do Not Mean Nous)," by Gary J. Schmitt and Abram N. Shulksy: http://bit.ly/2woEPwb ; "Sphinx Without a Secret," by M.F. Burnyeat, NY Review of Books (May 1985): http://bit.ly/2wp0DrH ; "What Is Liberal Education?" by Leo Strauss (June 1959): http://bit.ly/2u7v2xI ; Harvey Mansfield in conversation with Bill Kristol: https://youtu.be/t-gH7Waedtk ; "Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899-October 18, 1973," by Allan Bloom: http://bit.ly/2hqL5Rp ; "Leo Strauss: Friend of Liberal Democracy," by Jeet Heer (March '08): http://bit.ly/2u4kxaq ; Leo Strauss as Teacher, 2011 conference at U. of Chicago: https://youtu.be/vyaqZAwodeU ; "Seminar in Political Philosophy: Karl Marx," Leo Strauss (with Joseph Cropsey): http://bit.ly/2vsCjbd [excerpt is from 4/20/60; nice]. FURTHER READING: Profile of Abram Shulsky: "Selective Intelligence," by Seymour M. Hersh, New Yorker (May 2003): http://bit.ly/2o0t2mZ ; Jenny Strauss Clay, adoptive daughter of Leo, responds to his critics: "The Real Leo Strauss," NY Times (June 2003): http://nyti.ms/1i6Dj4I ; BBC documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis on Leo Strauss, from The Power of Nightmares (2004): https://youtu.be/FyKpjDup8Fw ; "Reading Leo Strauss," by Steven B. Smith, NY Times (June 2006): http://nyti.ms/2vsSHbr ; "The Pro-Trump Intellectuals Who Want to Overthrow America," by Jeet Heer, New Republic (Oct. 2016): http://bit.ly/2n6v6al.