The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945

George H. Nash

How did scattered American thinkers after the Second World War build a conservative movement of ideas that is still making history?

At a glance

You will be able to tell apart the libertarian, traditionalist and anticommunist strands that joined to form the modern American right
You will understand how thinkers who disagreed about freedom and tradition fused into one movement, and why it still splinters
You will weigh whether political victories bring real change, as conservatives themselves asked after the Age of Reagan

Preface to the Thirtieth-Anniversary Edition
Introduction
1 The Revolt of the Libertarians
2 The Revolt Against the Masses¹
3 The Recovery of Tradition and Values
4 Nightmare in Red¹
5 Consolidation
6 Fission and Fusion: The Quest for Philosophical Order
7 What is Conservatism in America? The Search for a Viable Heritage
8 What Is Conservatism in America? The Straussians, Willmoore Kendall, and the “Virtuous People”
9 Years of Preparation
10 Things Fall Apart
11 Can the Vital Center Hold?
12 Conservatism Ascendant: The Age of Reagan and Beyond
Conclusion Whither Conservatism?
Appendix Interviews and Correspondence
Bibliographical Essay For the Original Edition (1976)
Bibliographical Postscript 2006