Gerhart Niemeyer was the reason I pursued an M.A. in Political Philosophy at Notre Dame in the fall of 1965. But after a year with Dr. Niemeyer, I would go on to complete a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy under Leo Strauss, Harry Jaffa, and Martin Diamon. Nevertheless,...
The Conservative Mind, From Burke to Santayana by Russell Kirk. South Bend, Indiana: Gateway Editions, 1978. $5.95 in paperback. Sixth revised edition.For the radical libertarian, “it usually begins with Ayn Rand.” So, at least, claimed a book of that title published...
Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community, by Wendell Berry. Pantheon Books 1994, 208 pp., $20, cloth; $10 paper. To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely. —Edmund Burke Wendell Berry’s career has spanned more than thirty years and this newest collection...
The Long Affair: Thomas Jefferson and the French Revolution, 1785–1800, by Conor Cruise O’Brien. University of Chicago Press, 1996, 367 pp., $30 cloth.In The Long Affair, Conor Cruise O’Brien challenges professional historians’ hagiographic assessment of America’s...
The Conservative Constitution, by Russell Kirk. Regnery Gateway, 1990. Hardcover, 241 pp., $22.95 (as reviewed). Revised and expanded as Rights and Duties, with an introduction by Russell Hittinger (Spence, 1997).I first came across Russell Kirk’s writing forty-two...
The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography and Commented Anthology of Edmund Burke, by Conor Cruise O’Brien. University of Chicago Press, 1992.Paper 692 pp., $34.95. Conor Cruise O’Brien had a distinguished career before writing this book. He served in Ireland’s...
Kirk saw poetry, fiction, tradition, and restraint as essential to understanding America and preserving its character. In his review of "On America," @cjscalia explores Kirk’s vision of the founding, statesmanship, literature, and the enduring ideas that have shaped the republic.