Ten Books That Shaped
America’s Conservative Renaissance
by Jeffrey O. Nelson
If a conservative order is indeed to return, we ought to know
the tradition which is attached to it, so that we may rebuild society;
if it is not to be restored, still we ought to understand conservative ideas
so that we may rake from the ashes what scorched fragments of civilization escape the conflagration of unchecked will and appetite.
Russell Kirk, The Conservative Mind
The above words were written, of course, with reference to the great inheritance of conservative thought in the West, the long drama of lived experience as glimpsed by poets and novelists, social philosophers and practical statesmen. But these words could also be applied to a more particular conservative experience, that of post-World War II America. If we are to know and rebuild a conservative civil social order in this country, then we need to “rake from the ashes” of recent American history the books that influenced a generation of conservative scholars and public figures, books whose message resonated with much of the American populace and resulted in astonishing political triumphs.
At the time these books were published there was no conservative movement, only a belief among a disparate group of thinkers that conservative ideas had something to say to a society sated with liberalism. As Frederick D. Wilhelmsen put it, the only thing conservatives had was their vision. Today, conservatism has become so much a part of American life that it is difficult to comprehend what an astonishing achievement it was to lay the foundations of a movement that was, as the publisher Henry Regnery once remarked, not only an “opposing force to liberalism, but a vital force in its own right.” With all the opportunities and outlets now available to conservatives it is easy for us to forget that the movement which arose at the century’s midpoint came after a long reign of doctrinaire liberalism, and was greeted, according to Regnery, almost as an escape from bondage.
10 Books of the Conservative Tradition
The Road to Serfdom ……………………… F. A. Hayek
Socialism …………………………….. Ludwig von Mises
Memoirs of a Superfluous Man …… Albert Jay Nock
Witness …………………………… Whittaker Chambers
The New Science of Politics …………… Eric Voegelin
In Defense of Freedom …………………… Frank Meyer
The Conservative Mind ………………….. Russell Kirk
Ideas Have Consequences …………… Richard Weaver
The Quest for Community …………….. Robert Nisbet
On the Democratic Idea in America …. Irving Kristol
Some of the Best Historical Introductions to and Short Studies of Conservatism
History
The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 .George H. Nash
Short Introduction to Conservatism
Conservatism: Dream and Reality …..Robert Nisbet
Short Introduction to Classical Liberalism
Liberalism ………………………………………..John Gray
History of Pre-WWII American Conservatives
Superfluous Men ……………………….Robert Crunden
Anthology
Portable Conservative Reader ………….Russell Kirk
Essay Collection
The Public Philosophy Reader ……………Ed., Richard Bishirjian
Sourcebook of Conservative Thought Right Minds ………….Gregory Wolfe
Primary Sources
Reflections on the Revolution in France …………………..Edmund Burke
Democracy in America ………..Alexis de Tocqueville
The Federalist Papers …….Hamilton, Madison, Jay
Other Great Books of the Conservative Tradition
The Roots of American Order …………..Russell Kirk
Bureaucracy ………………………….Ludwig von Mises
The Law ………………………………….Frédéric Bastiat
The Conservative Affirmation in America ……Willmoore Kendall
A Humane Economy ……………….Wilhelm Roepke
The Constitution of Liberty …………….F. A. Hayek
Natural Right and History ………………..Leo Strauss
A Better Guide Than Reason ………M. E. Bradford
The Crisis of Western Education ………….Christopher Dawson
The Anti-Capitalist Mentality..Ludwig von Mises
Democracy and Leadership ……………Irving Babbitt
The Social Crisis of Our Time…..Wilhelm Roepke
The Servile State ………………………….Hilaire Belloc
I’ll Take My Stand ………………Twelve Southerners
Visions of Order ………………………Richard Weaver
Notes Toward the Definition of Culture …………….T. S. Eliot
The Managerial Revolution ………..James Burnham
Attack on Leviathan (retitled Regionalism and Nationalism in the U.S.) ……..
Donald Davidson
Christianity and Political Philosophy ………………Frederick D. Wilhelmsen
Enemies of the Permanent Things ……..Russell Kirk
Reflections of a Neoconservative ……….Irving Kristol
Our Enemy, The State ………………Albert Jay Nock
Crowd Culture ………………….Bernard Iddings Bell
The Politics of Prudence ………………….Russell Kirk
Literature and the American College…..Irving Babbitt
Order and History (5 vols) …………….Eric Voegelin
Up from Liberalism ……….William F. Buckley, Jr.
Historical Consciousness …………………..John Lukacs
Original Intentions ……………………M. E. Bradford
The Decline of the Intellectual …….Thomas Molnar
Human Action ……………………..Ludwig von Mises
Law, Legislation, & Liberty (3 vols) ..F. A. Hayek
Suicide of the West ……………….James Burnham
The Theory of Education in the United States ……….Albert Jay Nock
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