What Is Conservatism?

The Remnant ascends to a higher plane of nerdom today, as Matthew Continetti returns to discuss his new book, The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism. This episode presents the first half of a two-hour conversation between Jonah and Matt, which takes us on a freewheeling journey from the ‘20s to the ‘70s. They begin by exploring whether it’s possible to provide a simple definition of conservatism before digging deeply into the evolution of the movement. What did conservatism look like before the New Deal? How did William F. Buckley Jr. shape modern politics? Is fusionism still relevant? And how should we remember figures like Richard Nixon, Calvin Coolidge, and George Wallace? All of these questions and more are addressed within. But to learn about the Reagan era onward, and to hear some of Jonah’s quibbles with the book, you’ll have to tune in next week. 

Show Notes:

- Matthew’s page at AEI

- The Right, available now

- George Nash’s The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945

- George Weaver’s Ideas Have Consequences

- Russell Kirk’s The Conservative Mind

- Matthew previews The Right in the Wall Street Journal

- Frank Meyer’s reluctant and apologetic essay collection, What Is Conservatism?

- Lionel Trilling’s The Liberal Imagination

- The Remnant with Stephanie Slade

- How William F. Buckley changed his mind on civil rights

- Buckley’s The Unmaking of a Mayor

- Barry Goldwater’s The Conscience of a Conservative

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