In this review of Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Writing, Francis Fukuyama claims that “It should be clear that the Straussian project has no particular implications for contemporary American foreign policy, other than to underline its present moral dilemma.”
I can’t speak for Melzer’s book in general, but his scholarship of Montaigne is dreadful. I wrote a piece about it on my Montaigne Project blog. http://wp.me/p4tyhf-aH
Dan,
You might check out the podcast on Montaigne:
http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2011/02/18/episode-33-montaigne-what-is-the-purpose-of-philosophy/
I listened to that earlier — very well done. They recorded that the same week I began my Montaigne project.