The Book Is Becoming Real

I started this newsletter to create a space for public thinking while I worked on a book. It has been exactly that and I try to post something substantial every month.

Well, I am thrilled that the long-labored-over book is finally coming to fruition. I’ve signed a contract with Yale University Press, and I am set to deliver the manuscript in early May. I’m incredibly grateful to be in this position and really pleased with how it’s shaping up. My editor is first-rate and enthusiastic about the project, and I know he will strengthen it even more.

The book is tentatively titled Making Conservatism – though I am looking for something snappier. If readers have thoughts on a title that captures the intellectual architecture of the American Right, my inbox is open.

Making Conservatism brings together years of research, and is my effort to contribute to the field by telling the story of how conservative thinkers and writers sought to develop a coherent political philosophy and how they subsequently attempted to make their creation “American.”

If you find the stuff I write about here interesting, then the book is for you.

It’s early doors now, but I’ll be doing the usual book rollout stuff that everyone does. As I understand it, that sort of thing really matters, and I am grateful in advance for the interest of any of the subscribers here.

Because I am in the final stretch, I really need to spend time finalizing the manuscript, so in lieu of a proper post this month, let me point to a couple things I have published recently elsewhere.

Free State of Mind

First is an obituary in The Bulwark for Ed Crane, co-founder of the libertarian Cato Institute. While my research focuses on the broad conservative movement, of which libertarianism is a critical component, I’ve always had the hardest time getting into the libertarian mindset. Maximal libertarian assumptions just don’t work for me. But I have learned a lot from scholars of libertarianism, like Jennifer Burns, and from more libertarian-minded scholars and writers like Marcus Witcher and Stephanie Slade, who raise questions about, you know, the importance of economic factors in shaping historical actors and decisions. An obit is a good place to make an argument, and for Crane, who did a lot to professionalize the libertarian movement, I make a couple of wider points about libertarianism, including its place on the right (and relationship with the Left), and how unhelpful I find bothsidesism and ideological purity in this particular political moment.

Punks and Neocons

Second is a goofier piece on Rock Against Bush. The brief for this was some piece of American arcana, and I wanted to write about my music and cultural tastes in the mid-2000s. As a snotty teenaged punk, I didn’t always do the reading, but I did read a slew of classics like No Logo, Fast Food Nation, and Manufacturing Consent. The Rock Against Bush compilations were very much for me. I too see the irony in writing frequently for an outlet associated with Bill Kristol. The piece is short and was lots of fun to write, especially fueled by old favorites like Bad Religion’s The Empire Strikes First.

Triumph on Campus

Lastly, let me point to a podcast interview I did with Lauren Lassabe Shepherd and the American Campus podcast. Lauren is an accomplished scholar of Young Americans for Freedom, so I was excited to chat with her. We talked about L. Brent Bozell and Triumph, based on the post written for this newsletter.

There’s been far more (conscious) self-disclosure in this post than usual. Don’t worry, it won’t become the norm. But just to pull the curtain back one more time, I have too many side research projects going at the moment, but high on my list of priorities is a paper for the American Political History Conference in early June. I’ve pitched a paper on the unique role of North Carolina – and the University of North Carolina in particular – in the history of paleoconservatism. Let me know if you’re going to be at the conference.

Quick Recommendations

If you haven’t already read it, I recommend Laura K. Field’s Furious Minds to anyone who is interested in the Right. It’s deeply researched and incredibly thoughtful, but more than that, it’s elegantly written and Field weaves herself into the book in such a beautiful way. Of course it analyzes the thinkers behind the MAGA New Right, often sharply, but with more sympathy than you’d perhaps expect. More than that, though, Field makes a compelling implicit case for liberal pluralism.

If the people I write about interest you, let me highlight Stephanie Slade’s Fusionism, which is available for pre-order now. Slade and I approach the topic of fusionism from radically different perspectives, but she makes the case that there is a vital fusionist tradition that ought to be revived – especially now.

Finally, keep an eye out for Why Postliberalism Failed by Thomas D. Howes and James M. Patterson. The authors are Catholic political scientists who looked at the postliberal project and were disturbed. You can listen to their fun podcast, but I am eagerly awaiting the book. What sets this project apart is that Howes and Patterson look at real-life postliberal regimes, especially during the interwar period, and assess the wreckage.