Russell Kirk
American Conservative
Published on 18. May 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
608 pages
978-0-8131-7527-0 (ISBN)
Description
Emerging from two decades of the Great Depression and the New Deal and facing the rise of radical ideologies abroad, the American Right seemed beaten, broken, and adrift in the early 1950s. Although conservative luminaries such as T. S. Eliot, William F. Buckley Jr., Leo Strauss, and Eric Voegelin all published important works at this time, none of their writings would match the influence of Russell Kirk's 1953 masterpiece The Conservative Mind. This seminal book became the intellectual touchstone for a reinvigorated movement and began a sea change in Americans' attitudes toward traditionalism.
In Russell Kirk, Bradley J. Birzer investigates the life and work of the man known as the founder of postwar conservatism in America. Drawing on papers and diaries that have only recently become available to the public, Birzer presents a thorough exploration of Kirk's intellectual roots and development. The first to examine the theorist's prolific writings on literature and culture, this magisterial study illuminates Kirk's lasting influence on figures such as T. S. Eliot, William F. Buckley Jr., and Senator Barry Goldwater -- who persuaded a reluctant Kirk to participate in his campaign for the presidency in 1964.
While several books examine the evolution of postwar conservatism and libertarianism, surprisingly few works explore Kirk's life and thought in detail. This engaging biography not only offers a fresh and thorough assessment of one of America's most influential thinkers but also reasserts his humane vision in an increasingly inhumane time.
In Russell Kirk, Bradley J. Birzer investigates the life and work of the man known as the founder of postwar conservatism in America. Drawing on papers and diaries that have only recently become available to the public, Birzer presents a thorough exploration of Kirk's intellectual roots and development. The first to examine the theorist's prolific writings on literature and culture, this magisterial study illuminates Kirk's lasting influence on figures such as T. S. Eliot, William F. Buckley Jr., and Senator Barry Goldwater -- who persuaded a reluctant Kirk to participate in his campaign for the presidency in 1964.
While several books examine the evolution of postwar conservatism and libertarianism, surprisingly few works explore Kirk's life and thought in detail. This engaging biography not only offers a fresh and thorough assessment of one of America's most influential thinkers but also reasserts his humane vision in an increasingly inhumane time.
Reviews / Votes
An extraordinary book. Birzer has written a capacious and deeply humane treatment of an important thinker, writer, and actor who has been largely forgotten by an America that once regarded him as a singular and important voice. This lively and fascinating book will be read and talked about."" - Patrick Deneen, author of Democratic Faith""Bradley J. Birzer's Russell Kirk will blow away the stereotypes of what it means to be a conservative in modern America. Kirk's thinking is sharp, his writing is rich, and the fruits of his imagination retain their power to strike even the most skeptical of readers. Birzer has produced an essential introduction to this towering figure."" - Gary L. Gregg, Mitch McConnell Chair in Leadership, University of Louisville
"" Russell Kirk: American Conservative [is] a beautifully written and deeply insightful biography. Birzer traces the development of Kirk's ideas, especially the influence Burke, Dawson, Eliot and (surprise) the political philosopher Leo Strauss. He explores Kirk's concept of the transcendent, which moved from Stoicism to ""full communion with the Catholic Church."" And he considers Kirk's forays in the public square, not least his association with Barry Goldwater, the 1964 presidential candidate."" - Wall Street Journal
""Given the confused and dispirited state of American conservatism at the present moment, it is high time for a Russell Kirk revival. The very thought of such a revival is appealing, even exhilarating, and the appearance of Bradley J. Birzer's splendid and exhaustively researched biography of Kirk just might provide the catalyst needed to set it in motion."" - National Review
""Birzer covers it all, from Kirk's family life and Catholic conversion to his disputes with Jaffa and other Straussians over the meaning of the Declaration of Independence.At last, we have the definitive book about this important, fascinating, and good man."" - Claremont Review
""The new biography mines Kirk's vast archive respectfully, thouroughly and eloquently.[A]n engaging biography of one of the most influential and yet enegmatic figures on the American Right."" - Mark Pulliam, Library of Law & Liberty
""A diligent and adulatory study of Kirk's life and thought. Birzer succeeds admirably."" - Christopher Caldwell, New York Times
""This wonderful work is [...] a fascinating account of a great catholic and conservative."" - Catholic Medical Quarterly
""Birzer is the first researcher to have been granted full access to Kirk's letters, diaries, and draft manuscripts. He has avoided - as others haven't - defining Kirk by his list of accomplishments and has pieced together a comprehensive, complex account of Kirk's personality, motivations, and influences."" - Los Angeles Review of Books
""By presenting this thorough portrait of an extraordinary man, Birzer allows us to commune with Kirk. That is an act of authentic piety."" - First Things
""Birzer demonstrates, with tremendous skills and wide-ranging research, how Kirk focused on 'the whole, the universal principles that hold one person and one culture together at any one moment of time and across time.' [T]his biography provides an excellent history, and often pointed critique, of American conservatism and politics in the 20th century."" - Chronicles
""Mr. Birzer's penetrating look at the life and thought of Russell Kirk places him at the fountainhead of the conservative movement we have inherited today. Love or hate Kirk, this should be required reading for conservatives who wish to rediscover their roots, and perhaps refurnish our politics with the permanent things."" - Washington Times
""Birzer, a historian by training, is a vibrant biographer and sympathetic guide to Kirk's own historical orientation. Birzer not only chronicle's Kirk's own life but also expertly explores his context and competitors. Birzer also gives us the first extended measure of Kirk the man. We are indebted to Birzer for a book that, like the principles of conservatism, will endure, ennoble, and encourage."" - Modern Age Journal
""In a splendid, meticulously researched biography [...] Bradley J. Birzer ably reveals the complexities of Kirk's thinking."" - Claremont Review of Books
""In the course of sharing Kirk's life, Birzer does a wonderful job of exploring the conservative movement in the middle and late twentieth century. There is so much here to be learned, enjoyed, and maybe even emulated."" - Touchstone
""No other figure in 20th-century American political life deserved an exemplary biographical study more than Russell Amos Kirk. Thanks to Birzer, such an important work now exists. Birzer has a truly amazing command of the primary sources, and his archival labors evince the work of a superior scholar and talented historian."" - Choice
""Dr. Birzer not only chronicles Kirk's own life but also expertly explores his context and competitors. While Kirk is not unknown to today's conservatives, the vitality of Dr. Birzer's narrative coupled with its insightful recovery of requisite conservative themes will keep Kirk from becoming a lifeless icon or byword.We are indebted to Dr. Birzer for a book that, like the principles of conservatism, will endure, ennoble, and encourage."" - USSA News
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lexington
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
18 b&w photos, 14 figures
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 149 mm
Thickness: 45 mm
Weight
821 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8131-7527-0 (9780813175270)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Bradley J. Birzer is Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies and professor of history at Hillsdale College and interim president and CEO of the American Conservative magazine. He is also the second Visiting Scholar of Conservative Thought and Policy, University of Colorado-Boulder, and the author of American Cicero: The Life of Charles Carroll and Sanctifying the World: The Augustinian Life and Mind of Christopher Dawson. Birzer is a cofounder of and senior contributor to The Imaginative Conservative.