The Politics of Prudence
These essays by the dean of American conservatives show their origins as lectures in phraseology that speaks more fluently than it reads and in Kirk's delightful (or annoying), fuddy-duddy podium persona. These are slight detractions. Kirk's disinclination to explain his habitual phrases, however, is not. He's probably tired of specifying what, for instance, "the Permanent Things" he often mentions are, but the neophyte conservatives to whom he addresses this book may not have the inklings about them he takes for granted. They will have their conservatism refined by the distinctions Kirk makes between genuine conservatism and populism, neoconservatism, and the varieties of libertarianism. They will have their further studies directed by Kirk's appreciations of "Ten Conservative Books" and great conservative writers. They will be galvanized by Kirk's remarks on such national ills as the decline of our schools and the growth of our proletariat. Best of all, they will have their distrust of ideologies--which distrust lies at the heart of conservatism--enriched. They will not want to miss this book.Ray Olson