Conservative Thinkers: From John Adams to Winston Churchill

Peter Viereck

Transaction Publishers - Political Science - 191 pages

Across America today, conservatism is being hotly debated both across the political spectrum and within the conservative movement itself. Much of the public debate is without definition or historical context. This history of conservatism by renowned historian, social critic, and poet Peter Viereck aims to meet the need for a concise, balanced picture of conservative thought in all its different shadings and cultural contexts. The analytical portion of the book provides a succinct but thorough critical overview of conservatism's most representative figures. Viereck begins with chapters defining conservatism itself, its special technical terms, and its changing historical circumstances. The rest deals with its actual thinkers and statesmen. After each main conservative thesis, the anti-conservative rebuttal is summarized, and the reader is allowed to reach his own conclusions. Though the first stress is on conservative political philosophy (from John Adams to Churchill), key sections also stress non-political conservatism: in religion (Cardinal Newman) and in the primarily cultural protest against material progress (Coleridge, Dostoyevsky, Melville, Henry Adams). Every major point is concretely illustrated by an appended cross-reference to a primary source in the second half, a well-chosen anthology of key conservative documents. Criteria for inclusion are three, representativeness, depth of perception, importance of influence. The result is not uniformity but a gamut: from extreme intolerant reaction to an evolutionary moderate spirit. The former passes imperceptibly into authoritarianism; the latter, into liberalism. Peter Viereck is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, critic, and historian. He held the Kenan Chair in History at Mount Holyoke College. Among his books are Metapolitics: From Wagner and the German Romantics to Hitler, Unadjusted Man in the Age of Overadjustment, Conservatism Revisited, and Strict Wildness: Discoveries in Poetry and History, all available from Transaction.

Contents

• GENERAL: 10
• 2 ARISTOCRAT AND OTHER SPECIAL TERMS: 18
• FROM INTERNATIONALISM TO NATIONALISM: 22
• BRITISH: 25
• 5 COLERIDGE CARLYLE NEWMAN: 33
• DISRAELI AND CHURCHILL: 41
• LATIN EUROPE: 49
• MODERATE ANTIJACOBINS: 56
• AUTHORITARIAN NATIONALISTS: 60
• DONOSO CORTÉS: 63
• EAST OF THE RHINE: 69
• 12 GERMANY: 77
• 13 RUSSIA: 84
• THE UNITED STATES: 87
• 15 CALHOUN: 96
• 16 AMERICA SINCE THE CIVIL WAR: 99
• DOCUMENTS: 109
• 1 EDMUND BURKE 1770 1790: 110
• 2 JOHN ADAMS 17761821: 115
• 3 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 1787: 118
• 4 JAMES MADISON 1787: 120
• 5 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 1791 1822: 122
• 6 SAMUEL T COLERIDGE 17981832: 125
• 7 FRIEDRICH GENTZ 1801: 128
• 8 JOSEPH DE MAISTRE 1810 1821: 129
• 9 ADAM MÜLLER 1819: 133
• 10 CLEMENS VON METTERNICH 1820 18171848: 134
• 11 BENJAMIN DISRAELI 1835 1847 1848 1862 1867 1872: 139
• 12 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 1835 1840 184852: 145
• 13 JOHN C CALHOUN 1838 1850: 149
• 14 THOMAS CARLYLE 1843: 151
• 15 DON JUAN DONOSO CORTÉS 1851: 153
• 16 JAKOB BURCKHARDT 18641893: 158
• 17 FEODOR DOSTOYEVSKY 1864: 160
• 18 JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 1864 1865: 161
• 19 PIUS IX 1864: 164
• 20 LOUIS VEUILLOT 1866: 166
• 21 HENRY SUMNER MAINE 1885: 167
• 22 FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE 1886 1889: 168
• 23 KONSTANTIN PETROVICH POBIEDONOSTSEV 1898: 170
• 24 WINSTON S CHURCHILL 19031946: 173
• 25 W G SUMNER 1904: 176
• 26 MAURICE BARRÈS 1916: 178
• 27 IRVING BABBITT 1924: 179
• 28 ORTEGA Y GASSET 1930: 181
• 29 GEORGE SANTAYANA 1951: 183
• 30 FRANK TANNENBAUM 1952: 184
• 31 WALL STREET JOURNAL 1955: 185
• SUGGESTED READING FOR STUDENTS: 187
• INDEX: 188

Bibliographic information

• Title: Conservative Thinkers: From John Adams to Winston Churchill
• Author: Peter Viereck
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers
• ISBN: 141282026X, 9781412820264
• Length: 191 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / Political Ideologies / Conservatism & Liberalism