Reappraising the Right

The Past and Future of American Conservatism

By George H. Nash

Publisher: ISI Books

Cloth • Pages: 450
ISBN10/13: 1935191659 / 9781935191650
List Price: $27.95
Internet Special: $22.36

George Nash lecture at the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies

Is Conservatism Dead?

Ever since Democrats surged back into power, liberals have jubilantly proclaimed that conservatism is dead, both intellectually and politically—and some on the Right seem half-inclined to agree. Conservatives, trying to regroup, now must ask themselves: How did their once-dominant political and intellectual movement end up in such disarray? And where is it headed?

The preeminent historian of modern American conservatism, George H. Nash, tackles these crucial questions in the indispensable new book Reappraising the Right. Nash, the author of the seminal work The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945, provides a bracing perspective on conservatism’s present predicament by reexamining the roots and achievements of the contemporary American Right. Drawing on more than thirty years of study and reflection, Reappraising the Right ranges far and wide. It showcases Nash’s brilliant insights on such conservative luminaries as Ronald Reagan, William F. Buckley Jr., Russell Kirk, and Whittaker Chambers, and on less well-known but nonetheless profoundly important individuals who laid the foundations for modern conservatism. The book also features Nash’s surprising and provocative perspectives on Franklin Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover, neoconservatism and "crunchy conservatism," National Review and Commentary, economists and intellectuals, think tanks and colleges, the Great Depression, and much more.

Finally, Nash turns directly to the question of the hour: the future of the conservative movement. With a perspective liberated from the provincialism of the present, he provides an enlightened and enlightening assessment of the prospects for American conservatism. Nash frankly analyzes the causes of the Right’s present discontent and the dangers that lurk ahead, but also reminds readers of hopeful portents that conservatives have overlooked. Ideally suited for the current season of soul-searching on the Right, Reappraising the Right is both a revealing examination of conservatism’s rise and an insightful—and ultimately encouraging—reflection on its chances for renewal.

What They're Saying...

"George Nash is the dean and the leading light of historians of the American conservative movement. No one knows more about American conservatism’s past, and in Reappraising the Right he shares that knowledge with us, and also his wisdom about where conservatism can go from here."
— MICHAEL BARONE, coauthor of The Almanac of American Politics

"A tour de force. Exhaustively researched and brilliantly written, Reappraising the Right further solidifies Nash’s sterling reputation as America’s premier intellectual historian of conservatism. No student of American political philosophy and politics should be without this sequel to Nash’s landmark work The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945. The two constitute the bookends, the alpha and omega, to understanding conservatism in America."
— CHARLES W. DUNN, Regent University, editor of The Future of Conservatism

"George Nash, the preeminent historian of American conservatism, brings to this far-reaching work a vast and unsurpassed knowledge of the political and intellectual revolution that occurred in postwar America with the rise of the Right. There are many books on conservatism, but this is one that needs to be read both by those unfamiliar with the story and by political insiders."
— DONALD T. CRITCHLOW, Saint Louis University, author of Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism

"When George Nash speaks, conservatives listen—especially when he reassures us in this splendid and perceptive book that we have a future as well as a past."
— LEE EDWARDS, Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought, the Heritage Foundation

"Scholars and laymen alike will profit from these pieces. They are a joy to read and fine specimens of the historians craft. . . Reappraising the Right is worth purchasing for the chapters on Jewish conservatives alone, and historians of 20th century intellectual thought will find much to value in this book."
— History News Network

"This new book may provide the single most lucid analysis available of the varieties of American conservatism and their common convictions, mutual opponents, and underlying antagonisms. . . . It persuasively argues that to persevere today, conservatives must learn in changed circumstances how to preserve its sources and navigate its crosscurrents. . . . A graceful and incisive exploration of the history of conservatism in America."
— The Weekly Standard

“[Nash] has impeccable scholarly credentials . . . [and] brings to the current subject a historian’s perspective and an unwaveringly irenic temper. . . . Nash’s interest in things conservative is so catholic and comprehensive that very little of what needs to be said about modern conservatism is left out.”
— First Things

“Even for those who are familiar with his subject, there is much in these essays that is new and insight¬ful. . . . Whether talk¬ing about conservative think tanks, the influence of the Southern Agrarian Richard Weaver, the ambivalences of Whittaker Chambers, William F. Buckley Jr.’s writing habits, or the career of Herbert Hoover, Nash is usually enlightening.”
— The American Conservative

“Nash’s pellucid prose ensures that scholars and laymen alike will profit from these pieces. They are a joy to read and fine specimens of the historian’s craft. . . . Nash is a genteel and charming writer, fair-minded, and a meticulous researcher.”
— History News Network

“Masterful . . . Eloquently and engaging¬ly, [Nash] unveils the story of one of this nation’s most important intellectual and political movements of the 20th century—the conservative move¬ment. . . . Nash’s book gives the best and most complete history of American religious conservatism anywhere.”
— Citizen

“An intriguing look at the right end of the political spectrum, highly intriguing reading.”
— Midwest Book Review

"Those readaing Nash's collection of essays and addresses will gaingreater leverage in evaluating much of the recent writings that foretell conservatism's imminent doom"
— Springer

Interview with George H. Nash, author of
Reappraising the Right

Dr. Nash, why did you decide to publish this book?

For two reasons: to contribute to the scholarly understanding of American conservatism And because the time is ripe.

What do you mean, “the time is ripe”?

As i was preparing this volume for publication, the president of the United States and his entourage were engaged in a noisy, public argument with a fellow named Rush Limbaugh, a man considered by many to be the most influential spokesman for American conservatism at this time. Meanwhile many on the political left are gleefully claiming that conservatism in the United States is in terminal disarray. They say it is brain-dead. A few on the right seem half-inclined to agree. Here and there intramural squabbles are breaking out among conservatives as they try to regroup after last year’s election. So 2009 seems like a highly appropriate time for conservatives especially—and others, too—to pause and take stock of this once-dominant political and intellectual movement. That is where I come in.

How so?

I am a professional historian and student of American conservatism. I have researched, written, and lectured about this subject since the 1970s, beginning with my doctoral dissertation at Harvard University. My first book, the conservative intellectual movement in America since 1945, was published in 1976 and is still in print (in updated form). So I bring to this much disputed subject something few people have: historical perspective.

But isn’t conservatism passé now? Wasn’t it just repudiated at the polls?

Well, we shall see. One of the themes of my new book is that in the past few decades American conservatism has grown in intellectual sophistication and political heft to become a competitive and powerful presence in our public life. Along the way it has built an elaborate infrastructure of media and think tanks that shows few signs of withering away. Come what may in the long run, it appears to me as a historian that in the short run—the next five or ten years—conservatives will be important participants in our national conversation.

It sounds like you are telling conservatives to take courage.

Yes, you could say that. I also believe that the current season of soul searching on the right is a good moment for conservatives to take a “refresher course,” reexamine their roots, and deepen their self-understanding. My book can help them do this.

I have looked at the table of contents of your book. You seem to write mainly about intellectuals, including some I have never heard of. Why?

Because--contrary to popular stereotype—the conservative coalition that developed in the past two generations has been motivated not so much by “special interests” as by ideas. The Conservative movement as we know it today exemplifies the truth of Mazzini’s remark: “ideas rule the world and its events.” Or as conservatives like to say (borrowing from a book title by Richard m. Weaver): “ideas have consequences.”

Are you saying that conservative politicians like Ronald Reagan were not so important?

Not at all. But conservatism in America has always been more than just a tune played by republican politicos. Before Reagan, before newt Gingrich, before Sarah Palin and other conservative icons, there were the writers, philosophers, economists, historians, and literary giants who articulated what conservatives believed and should believe. People like William f. Buckley Jr., Russell Kirk, and Friedrich Hayek—all of whom i appraise in my new volume. These brilliant individuals laid the intellectual foundations and supplied the “idea power” which conservative activists exploited in the public arena during “the age of Reagan.” Reagan, by the way, was an avid man of ideas himself—something of an intellectual, really, as you will discover in my chapter on him in my book.

You seem to take a special interest in Herbert Hoover—not exactly a conservative favorite these days. Why?

I have written a comprehensive, three-volume, scholarly biography of Hoover, one of the most accomplished and elusive figures in our country’s history—a man who saved more lives (in his humanitarian work) than any other person who has ever lived. But more importantly for the theme of my book, Hoover was once a hero of conservatives; today he is generally rejected by those who identify with the American right. Yet there is much in Hoover’s record and political philosophy which should appeal to today’s conservatives if they will get past what they think they know about him and become more adequately acquainted with his career.

You also devote a lengthy section of your book to conservatism in the American Jewish community. This seems unusual, since most Jewish voters are politically liberal.

That is true, but in my research i have discovered and documented a notable contribution by jewish writers to the evolution of modern American conservatism. I think my chapters on this relatively neglected subject will surprise many readers. It underscores one of the themes of my volume: that conservatism is not and has never been monolithic. It is a river with many tributaries.

What would you like a reader to take away, finally, from your New book?

I would like readers of all persuasions to come away with a better understanding of American conservatism and therefore a better understanding of our times. I would like conservatives to acquire in the process a deeper and firmer knowledge of their intellectual foundations.