Book Hints
Conservatism has enjoyed renewed respectability these past eight years. Now President Reagan, its most eminent spokesman, is about to depart the White House. What better moment to take stock of the things conservative.
In The Conservative Movement (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 140 pp., $18.95), Paul Gottfried and Thomas Fleming trace the evolution of New Right conservatism from 1945 to the present in a concise, though unabashedly sympathetic, guide to the changing conservative landscape.
Two works published by the Washington, D.C.–based Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, Issues '88: A Platform for American Social Policy Planks, edited by Mark Liedl (135 pp., three-volume set, $19.95 paper) and Cultural Conservatism: Toward a New National Agenda (147 pp., $6.95), outline a decidedly conservative social and cultural agenda for the future—from outlawing surrogate motherhood contracts and reestablishing school prayer to strictly enforcing pornography laws and reversing the Roe v. Wade abortion decision.
Robert Nisbet's Modern Age (New York: Harper & Row, 145 pp., $17.95) provides a well-crafted and fascinating analysis of American government and political philosophy in the 1980s. Long identified as a conservative, Nisbet nonetheless voices trenchant criticisms of modern American conservatism, including a forceful critique of conservative militarism and evangelicism.
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Book Hints."
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?