First published 2009
Sam Tanenhaus examines the American conservative movement's seventy-five year internal struggle between two competing factions. He identifies consensus-driven realists who embraced government's capacity to adapt versus movement revanchists who rejected both government and society itself. The revanchists ultimately won this battle, creating what Tanenhaus calls today's decadent movement conservatism. This ideology abandons true conservative principles in its arguments, tactics, and vision. Tanenhaus finds hope in pragmatic leaders like Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, along with thinkers such as Whittaker Chambers and William F. Buckley Jr. These figures understood conservatism's proper function: engaging seriously with liberalism to maintain political stability rather than pursuing narrow ideological goals. The author argues that conservatives must return to this tradition to regain relevance in American politics.
Genres: history, 20th-century, american, political-science, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: ideological-divide
Period: 20th Century, 21st Century
144 pages · Hardcover · Random House