Moral Man and Immoral Society

Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr contends in this 1932 study that human beings sin more readily as part of a group than on their own. Written in a single summer and shaped by his years as a pastor in Detroit, the book examines the inevitability of social conflict, the brutality of collectives and the failure of rationalists and social scientists to grasp collective power. It attacks secular and religious liberalism alike, singling out John Dewey and the Social Gospel. Liberal Christian critics first disliked it, but its standing rose as the spread of fascism in the 1930s seemed to bear out its warnings. Dietrich Bonhoeffer read it soon after publication, admiring the thesis while disliking its critique of pacifism.

Barack Obama has said he loves Niebuhr and counts him among his favorite philosophers.