Russell Kirk - Böcker

"It is inconceivable even to imagine, let alone hope for, a dominant conservative movement in America without Kirk's labor." — WILLIAM F BUCKLEY  "A profound critique of contemporary mass society, and a vivid and poetic image - not a program, an image - of how that society might better itself. [ The Conservative Mind ] is, in important respects, the twentieth century's own version of the Reflections on the Revolution in France... [Kirk] was an artist, a vsionary, almost a prophet."  - DAVID FRUM, author of Dead Right "I have been one of your fans since the time many years ago when I read The Conservative Mind." - RICHARD NIXON "Dr. Russell Kirk's impact on conservative thought and policy in America has been decisive. It was his writings, and in particular his seminal work, The Conservative Mind, that laid the foundation for many of the ideas that continue to shape public discourse and debate to this day." - JOHN ENGLER, former Governer of Michigan  "Kirk is assured a place of prominence in the intellectual histories for helping to define the ethical basis of conservatism. He has tried to pull conservatism away from the utilitarian premises of libertarianism, toward which conservatism often veers, toward a philosophy rooted in ethics and culture." - THE WALL STREET JOURNAL  Russell Kirk's The Conservative Mind is one of the greatest contributions to twentieth-century American conservatism. Brilliant in every respect, from its conception to its choice of significant figures representing the history of intellectual conservatism, The Conservative Mind launched the modern American Conservative Movement when it was first published in 1953 and has become an enduring classic of political thought. The seventh revised edition features the complete text and an introduction by publisher Henry Regnery. A must-read.

A founding father of the American conservative movement, Russell Kirk (1918–94) was also a renowned and bestselling writer of fiction. Kirk’s focus was the ghost story, or “ghostly tale” – a “decayed art” of which he considered himself a “last remaining master.” Old House of Fear, Kirk’s first novel, revealed this mastery at work. Its 1961 publication was a sensation, outselling all of Kirk’s other books combined, including The Conservative Mind, his iconic study of American conservative thought. A native of Michigan, Kirk set Old House of Fear in the haunted isles of the Outer Hebrides, drawing on his time in Scotland as the first American to earn a doctorate of letters from the University of St. Andrews. The story concerns Hugh Logan, an attorney sent by an aging American industrialist to Carnglass to purchase his ancestral island and its castle called the Old House of Fear. On the island, Logan meets Mary MacAskival, a red-haired ingénue and love interest, and the two face off against Dr. Edmund Jackman, a mystic who has the island under his own mysterious control. This new edition features an introduction by James Panero, Executive Editor of The New Criterion.

Robert A. Taft has been neglected by some historians and political theorists and vilified by others. Vigorously and impartially written, this book analyzes the ideas and influence of a great U.S. senator of the twentieth century. Here readers will find a close and lively examination of Taft's convictions on freedom, justice, labor policy, social reform, foreign affairs, and the responsibilities of political parties.Respected for his intelligence and integrity, Robert Taft was considered the most remarkable public man of a turbulent political era. He was strong and candid, yet was repeatedly denied executive power. Despite this, he will undoubtedly be long remembered.Drawing on many contemporary sources, including the Taft Papers in the Library of Congress, Kirk and Mc- Clellan set Taft in historical perspective. Taft's enduring significance to a normative theory of politics is made clear in this careful study, which includes extensive quotations from his outstanding speeches and writings. Available in paperback for the first time, this edition includes a new introduction by Jeffrey Nelson, who has been closely associated with Russell Kirk.

It is an incontestable fact of history that the United States, although a multiethnic nation, derives its language, mores, political purposes, and institutions from Great Britain. The two nations share a common history, religious heritage, pattern of law and politics, and a body of great literature. Yet, America cannot be wholly confident that this heritage will endure forever. Declining standards in education and the strident claims of multiculturalists threaten to sever the vital Anglo-American link that ensures cultural order and continuity. In "America's British Culture", now in paperback, Russell Kirk offers a brilliant summary account and spirited defense of the culture that the people of the United States have inherited from Great Britain. Kirk discerns four essential areas of influence. The language and literature of England carried with it a tradition of liberty and order as well as certain assumptions about the human condition and ethical conduct. American common and positive law, being derived from English law, gives fuller protection to the individual than does the legal system of any other country. The American form of representative government is patterned on the English parliamentary system. Finally, there is the body of mores - moral habits, beliefs, conventions, customs - that compose an ethical heritage. Elegantly written and deeply learned, "America's British Culture" is an insightful inquiry into history and a plea for cultural renewal and continuity. Adam De Vore in "The Michigan Review" said of the book: "A compact but stimulating tract...a contribution to an over-due cultural renewal and reinvigoration...Kirk evinces an increasingly uncommon reverence for historical accuracy, academic integrity and the understanding of one's cultural heritage," and Merrie Cave in "The Salisbury Review" said of the author: "Russell Kirk has been one of the most important influences in the revival of American conservatism since the fifties. [Kirk] belongs to an almost extinct species on both sides of the Atlantic - an independent man of letters."

Robert A. Taft has been neglected by some historians and political theorists and vilified by others. Vigorously and impartially written, this book analyzes the ideas and influence of a great U.S. senator of the twentieth century. Here readers will find a close and lively examination of Taft's convictions on freedom, justice, labor policy, social reform, foreign affairs, and the responsibilities of political parties.Respected for his intelligence and integrity, Robert Taft was considered the most remarkable public man of a turbulent political era. He was strong and candid, yet was repeatedly denied executive power. Despite this, he will undoubtedly be long remembered.Drawing on many contemporary sources, including the Taft Papers in the Library of Congress, Kirk and Mc- Clellan set Taft in historical perspective. Taft's enduring significance to a normative theory of politics is made clear in this careful study, which includes extensive quotations from his outstanding speeches and writings. Available in paperback for the first time, this edition includes a new introduction by Jeffrey Nelson, who has been closely associated with Russell Kirk.

Russell Kirk begins this classic, orginally published as The Intelligent Women's Guide to Conservativism, by defining a conservative as "a person who believes there is something in our life worth saving." From there Kirk embarks on a brilliant and witty explanation of conservative political philosophy that remains one of the best books written about conservativism to this day.

“An instant classic.”—Yuval LevinA timely volume for America250 that illuminates what America means—and what it means to be an American.As Americans mark the semiquincentennial of their republic’s birth, they are deeply divided over the nature and meaning of the American Founding. Does the United States rest on an intrinsically racist basis, as is now so often claimed? Did the Declaration of Independence commit the United States to a perpetual revolution aimed at liberating the American people—and others—from all inherited constraints? If America’s framers were neither vile racists nor wild-eyed radicals, were they at least good liberals? They were in fact none of these things. In On America: How to Understand the Legacy of 1776, Russell Kirk, one of the most important and brilliant thinkers of the twentieth century, explains that America is not an “experiment,” but rather a particular expression of the entire Western heritage. The Founding of the United States should be understood as an essentially conservative act, writes Kirk, and is therefore an achievement in which sober-minded Americans ought to take pride. Besides fresh, accessible essays on the Declaration of Independence and the Founding period, On America includes Kirk’s insightful reflections on wise American statesmen from John Adams to Abraham Lincoln to (surprisingly) Eugene McCarthy, as well as his interpretations of great American writers from Nathaniel Hawthorne to Robert Frost to Mark Twain.