Name: The Conservative Mind
ISBN: 9780895261717

Russell Kirk

The book that launched the modern American conservative movement, now available in trade paperback.

From Burke to Eliot

The Conservative Mind

Simon Elliott Stegall

This may be the most personally impactful book I've ever read. I have never been so challenged by a book, and have never grown so much as a result. By the last page, my understanding of Kirk's topic had increased so much that I wanted to flip the book over and start again, because I knew I would comprehend it so much more. Kirk's encyclopedic knowledge of his topic is incredible.

The Conservative Mind is a chronicle of the great conservative thinkers of history, starting with Edmund Burke and John Adams of the 17th century and ending with Santayana and Eliot of the 20th. Kirk connects the dots between these thinkers, but does not attempt the futile task of aligning their political views. Conservatism, Kirk emphatically states, is not ideology, like so much libertarianism or liberalism. In fact, it cannot be summarized in a pithy phrase, for conservatives must have "a talent for re-expressing their convictions to fit the time." But generally, conservatism is manifest positively as a desire to preserve the ancient wisdom present in our institutions, culture, and government; and it is manifest negatively as a distrust of "progress" that seeks to dismantle these repositories of the permanent things. This book is a history of how that intuition has been worked out in the politics of England and America in the last 300 years. 

Conservatism is a philosophy rather than a policy. Though not neutral to politics, it does not assert a specific political dogma, but rather attempts to preserve, in a changing political world, the aspects of life that make it worth living. In the words of George Santayana: "I should not be afraid of the future domination, whatever it may be... I have found, in different times and places, the liberal, the Catholic, and the German air quite possible to breathe; nor, I am sure, would communism be without its advantages to a free mind, and its splendid emotions." This universality is what makes the conservative impulse so compelling as a philosophy, and what makes this book so complex. The conservatives discussed here do not fit in one political vein; both John Adams, the advocate of freedom, and John Randolph, the great southern orator, are represented here. Kirk does not attempt to alleviate these tensions, knowing that they are indicative not of conservatism's contradictions, but of its humanity. A political system can be condemned for contradictions, but a history of striving men cannot.

I may reread this book, but it has introduced me to so many new thinkers and writings that I'm afraid it will be a while before I make it back around to The Conservative Mind. But it is an absolutely essential book for anyone not enamored with the progressivism of our time, who feels that there must be a deeper understanding of politics. This book is an introduction to that understanding.

The Conservative Mind From Burke to Eliot

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