Revisiting Viereck
Conservatism Revisited: The Revolt Against Ideology, by Peter Viereck. With a major new study of Peter Viereck and Conservatism by Claes G. Ryn (Transaction Publishers, 2005, 205 pages) Developments in recent American politics have raised questions about the...
The Great Intellectual Scandal: Irving Babbitt and His Traditionalist Critics
Democracy and Leadership By Irving Babbitt. Liberty Fund, 1979 (1924). Paperback, 392 pages, $14.50. Reviewed by Claes G. Ryn. Irving Babbitt’s Democracy and Leadership celebrated its centenary in 2024. We asked several Babbitt scholars to reflect upon its importance...
The Babbitt School of Conservatism
The Failure of American Conservatism and the Road Not Taken By Claes G. Ryn. Republic Book Publishers, 2023. Hardcover, 468 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by Daniel McCarthy. In the 2020s, “conservatism” sounds passé, and its failure is taken for granted. A new right finds...
A Half Century of Conservative Criticism
The Failure of American Conservatism and the Road Not Taken By Claes G. Ryn. Republic Book Publishers, 2023. Hardcover, 468 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by John Grove. Since at least 2016, conservatism has been undergoing a bit of an intellectual identity crisis. Perhaps...
We Few, We Happy Few
Humanistic Letters: The Irving Babbitt—Paul Elmer More Correspondence Edited by Eric Adler. University of Missouri Press, 2023. Hardcover, 488 pages, $75. Reviewed by Justin D. Garrison. In The Conservative Mind, Russell Kirk observes, “it is an ominous sign for any...
Conservatism: A View from Sweden
Modern konservatism: filosofi, bärande idéer och inriktningar i Burkes efterföljd by Jakob Söderbaum. Recito Förlag (Sweden), 2020. Hardcover, 311 pages. Reviewed by Br. Augustine Wärnberg In recent years there has been a significant development in the conservative...
What Does Athens Have to Do with America?
Ancient Greece and American Conservatism: Classical Influence on the Modern Right By John Bloxham. I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. Hardcover, 284 pages, $99 (Paperback, $40). Reviewed by Grant Havers The application of ancient Greek thought and history to...
There are metaphorical hills on which I would be willing to die. The Oxford comma is one of them.
So easy to forget that the best way to educate yourself is to read great works of literature and philosophy, then talk about them. Bring back the salon!