The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times

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Excellent on many levels

More Excellent, Readable History From Jeffrey Hart

What he saw at the revolution

A Must Read on American Culture and Politics

nothing here will please conservatives who support Bush.

The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times
Jeffrey Hart
Manufacturer: Intercollegiate Studies Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 193385913X

Customer Reviews:

Excellent on many levels.......2007-01-28

While it is unlikely that Jeffrey Hart will succeed in writing George W. Bush out of conservatism as Whittaker Chambers did Ayn Rand, he certainly tries. Overall, his survey of National Review's half century is an excellent account of the magazine and its personalities, of the major conservative intellectual trends, and of their application to and commentary on history as it developed over the past fifty years. There exists an uneasy tension between Hart the NR editor, Hart the historian and Hart the political commentator and the author's tendency towards editorializing about contemporary issues that historians are unlikely to deem particularly important will probably prevent what is otherwise one of the better books about American conservatism from standing independent of the place and time of its publication. That said, it is eminently readable and well worth the price.

More Excellent, Readable History From Jeffrey Hart.......2006-08-18

Jeffrey Hart, a distinguished professor of English at Dartmouth, has a sideline of writing some really absorbing histories of American culture. His latest is this thoroughly absorbing work, which is part memoir, part chronicle of the shifting currents of politcal thought over the past fifty years as reflected by the conservative magazine "National Review". The hero of this book is William F. Buckley, Jr., who was arguably the most influential journalist of his times. He almost single-handedly reshaped American conservativism into an intellectually powerful and emotionally appealing movement, and made possible the emergence of Ronald Reagan, who really did change the world.

Hart profiles the motley band of ex-communists and former radicals who became major figures at "NR". There are fascinating profiles of the acidic Wilmoore Kendall; the brilliant book editor Frank Meyer; James Burnham, the global strategist and inspiration to Orwell; and Whittaker Chambers (of course). The book also benefits from Hart's personal knowledge of two of the dominant Republican presidents of the era, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. In Hart's view, Nixon had the opportunity to forge a center-right majority years before Reagan, but blew it because of his personal demons which lead to criminal misdeeds. It took Reagan's sunnier nature to eventually triumph.

Hart doesn't let "NR" off the hook for its missteps. Their antagonism towards Eisenhower was misdirected (that president is now pretty much universally regarded as great.) Their stupid late defence of Joe McCarthy cost them the opportunity to publish something by T.S. Eliot, who objected to McCarthy's presence in the magazine. Hart suggests the editors blew it with race relations in the 1960's. And Hart has harshly critical words for George W. Bush and his supporters at the magazine.

But these things have to be balanced against the good things: the expulsion of the extremist John Birch Society from the conservative movement. The wit, irreverence, and sheer fun of the writing. And the laying of the intellectual groundwork that would create the "vast right-wing conspiracy" that would help heal a desperate America after the traumas of the '60's and '70's. Hart does a terrific job of retelling the story. (I'm penalizing the book one star for snobbery against the South and West, and members of "eccentric churches like Mormonism.")

What he saw at the revolution.......2006-07-11

This is a excellent book, and also an incomplete one. The excellence is captured in its subtitle, "'National Review' and Its Times." Where it is incomplete -- where it overreaches somewhat -- is in the assumption of its title, "The Making of the American Conservative Mind." The reader would have been better served if title and subtitle had been reversed before publication.

Jeffery Hart was part of the "National Review" story more or less from the beginning, and so this is a fascinating memoir. His depictions of key players (particularly the ones portrayed on the cover, Buckley, Burnham, Kirk, Kendall, and Meyer; oddly, though Whittaker Chambers is pictured as well, his is not a major presence in the book: William Rusher would have been a better choice) are quite good. So too are Hart's evocations of Goldwater, Eisenhower, and Reagan. He has a novelist's eye for interpersonal dynamics and the tensions created by egos and approaches in conflict.

I almost wrote "ideologies" or "philosophies" in place of "approaches" in the previous sentence. But another area where Hart is quite good is in explicating what he sees as NR's crucial frame of reference over the decades, a focus on "strategic, prudential, and therefore gradualist conservatism" (p. 241). Planted by Burke and fed and watered by Burnham and Kirk, this conservatism lives in the real world (it says) and rejects absolutes, ideologies, and utopias. Therefore, Hart criticizes a later generation of NR writers who "on the grounds that lower taxes meant less government, always supported tax cuts. But in the real world, Americans wanted such programs as Medicare and Social Security, and these had to be paid for" (p. 335). Hart makes it clear that Buckley, in particular, was never a revolutionary or (in the word's original meaning) a "radical." He wanted to reform the Establishment, not tear it down, and his goal (and Burnham's) was to make NR the voice of that Establishment. Not for them Garrison's warning that "Gradualism in theory is perpetuity in practice."

As implied in the last paragraph, one of the parts of this book I found most fascinating was Hart's evident disappointment in the direction NR has taken in the last decade or two. More in sadness than in anger, Hart says the magazine has become too "topical" -- more of a conservative news magazine, less of an intellectual forum. The founding generation, so to speak, were university professors, philosophers, and other intellectuals of a high order. In contrast, today's NR contributors are, by and large, journalists. While he speaks highly of current editor Rich Lowry's biography of Bill Clinton, it's clear Hart sees no one in the Manhattan or DC offices who can pick up the colors laid down by Kirk, Kendall, and Meyer. The corresponding decline of NR as the agora where varying modes of conservatism are weighed and measured seems, not without merit, deeply disappointing to Hart.

If all that makes for a very interesting book, there are also certain clear, perhaps deliberate, shortcomings here. A key part of NR's campaign to be that voice of the Establishment was to "help define by exclusion views that were beyond the pale" of respectable opinion (p. 70). Hence the drumming-out, for good reasons or bad, of the Birchers, the Randians, the Rothbardians, the Buchananites and (more significantly) the reinforcement of the myth that modern American conservatism was born in the alliance of Buckley and Burnham some time in the early 1950s. Other books by NR alums, like Rusher's "The Rise of the Right" (1984), do this too.

But interestingly, I heard a tape recording of some National Review banquet back in the late 70s or early 80s where a speaker (Rusher? Allard Lowenstein?) introduced Buckley as "America's leading spokesman for conservatism ... of a sort." Meant mostly in jest, it's actually a pretty good classification. Despite NR's attempt to corral conservatism within its own preferred limits, there's actually quite a bit more to it. I'd therefore recommend other books to read alongside this one: perhaps "The Conservative Movement" by Paul Gottfried, "Revolt in the Heartland" by Joseph Scotchie, "An Enemy of the State" and/or "Reclaiming the American Right" by Justin Raimondo, "The Right Nation" by Micklethwait and Wooldridge, and any one of several books by Justus Doenecke.

Over the years, "National Review" has tried to shape the American mind, and has been vastly influential in molding several generations of thinkers and activists. Jeffrey Hart has given us a very good view of the magazine's history and relevance, though there is yet more still to tell.

A Must Read on American Culture and Politics.......2006-03-30

This book is one of the seminally important works for understanding American politics in the last half of the twentieth century. The great unreported story of modern American politics and culture is how a small band of intellectuals working under the banner of National Review nearly single handedly changed the terms of the American political debate (but alas could not change the culture)both through the magazine and through the people and organizations that it bred. Hart provides an insider's reportage of that story. He masterfully describes the personalities who were most influential and how they competed and cooperated to state the basis of the new American conservatism. But he also has the deep intellect to understand and distill the essence of the ideas propounded. He gently critiques those ideas and the magazine without losing crediblity as a historian of the modern conservative movement.

nothing here will please conservatives who support Bush........2006-03-22

Faith-based conservatives, those who value Bush because he claims to be a conservative despite the overwhelming evidence he isn't, will hate this book. Bush's freewheeling fiscal policies, whose intent is to make the rich even richer, and never mind the exploding national deficit are given full attention by Hart. More attention might have been paid to Bush's despoliation of the environment by relaxing controls of air and water pollution---i.e, in not conserving the environment and human health.

But Hart, who has impeccable conservative credentials, does well in showing how what Bush does (evidence) is at odds with what conservatives are supposed to believe (faith).

Useful adjuncts to this book are John Dean, Conservatives Without Conscience and Kevin Phillips, American Theocracy.

Re: us.(The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times)(Book review): An article from: National Review

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Re: us.(The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times)(Book review): An article from: National Review
George H. Nash
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
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Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from National Review, published by Thomson Gale on January 30, 2006. The length of the article is 1481 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Re: us.(The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times)(Book review)
Author: George H. Nash
Publication: National Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 30, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 58 Issue: 1 Page: 48(2)

Article Type: Book review

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The Vitiated Center: the successful failures of right and left intellectuals.(The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times)(The ... review): An article from: Reason

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The Vitiated Center: the successful failures of right and left intellectuals.(The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times)(The ... review): An article from: Reason
Brian Doherty
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
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Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Reason, published by Thomson Gale on August 1, 2006. The length of the article is 3223 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Vitiated Center: the successful failures of right and left intellectuals.(The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times)(The Disappearing Liberal Intellectual)(Book review)
Author: Brian Doherty
Publication: Reason (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 38 Issue: 4 Page: 65(5)

Article Type: Book review

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The Making of the American Conservative Mind: national Review and its Times

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The Making of the American Conservative Mind: national Review and its Times
Jeffrey Hart
Manufacturer: Isi Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OV4GPA

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Overall Very Good condition. Ships the next day. Satisfaction guaranteed. 12/15 TB

Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of the World (Smithsonian Handbooks)

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Fine feathered friends
Makes the world of bird-watching fun for everyone

Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of the World (Smithsonian Handbooks)
Alan Greensmith
Manufacturer: DK ADULT
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 078949390X

Book Description

Authoritative text, crystal--clear photography, and a systematic approach make this the most comprehensive pocket guide to birds of the world. Featuring over 800 bird species, this volume is designed to simplify the sometimes complex identification process. Whether in your neighborhood or in the wild, the Smithsonian Handbook of Birds of the World enables you to spot and recognize birds easily. Photo--Encyclopedic Approach: Each entry combines a precise description with an annotated photograph to highlight the bird's chief characteristics and distinguishing features. There are useful maps showing worldwide distribution, pictures of alternative plumage, and scale drawings of each bird. Color--coded, quick--reference bands giving at--a--glance facts complete every entry. Identification Made easy: For beginners and established enthusiasts alike, the Smithsonian Handbook of Birds of the World begins by describing anatomy and behavior to help identify different types of bird. A visual identification key then shows the major bird groups and guides you to the correct entries. Finally, a concise glossary provides a useful guide to the scientific and technical terms used in the book.

Customer Reviews:

Fine feathered friends.......2001-01-09

Birds are beautiful and the world of birds is fascinating. It's only fitting then that this is an Eyewitness Book, because that series of books is well known for beautiful illustrations and fascinating, innovative and educational presentations on the various topics that they publish. This book uses annotated photographs rather than drawings and it's size (like an oversized novel) allows between two to three birds per page, making the photos large enough for easy identification. The descriptions that accompany each bird speak to behavior, habitat, what it's nest looks like and sometimes a general remark on some unusual or an interesting trait. The geographic distribution of the bird is also shown by way of a small map. A reviewer below is right. The use of an illustration showing the size of the bird in relation to the book is brilliant! I can't think of a better way of getting a feel for the size of something you've never seen, than comparing it with something that you are holding in your hand.

The only quibble with the book is the method of organising the birds. The book is divided into Passerines and Non Passerines which doesn't mean much and doesn't help either, since both of those groups include a wide variety of bird types. Picture this: a bird catches your eye, "Hey that's an owl, I wonder what kind?" You can spend a bit of time going through the 3 step identification key before you find the owls. To be fair though, that really only means that this is not a field guide. It can't be, it's 'Birds of The World' afterall. Enjoy it for what it is - A beautifully illustrated, educational, introduction to the wonderful world of birds.

Makes the world of bird-watching fun for everyone.......1996-08-08

This book by the successful Eyewitness Books makes identifying birds on the backyard fence, those birds sitting on the wire over your recently-washed car, birds in the woods and jungles easy to identify. The highly graphical lay-out and the simply written text welcomes the reader to the world of the feathered flyers that live in every climate on earth. Even though this volume is not as comprehensive and inclusive as the books by the Audubon Society or the Peterson guides, it contains outstanding pictures of more than 800 species. The entire range of bird families is presented in an easy-to-read format with fabulous closeup pictures of each bird. Just enough information is presented. An especially cunning feature shows an outline of each bird next to an outline of the book to convey a sense of size. Sections in the front of the book introduce the reader to the anatomy of birds, techniques for watching birds in the garden or woods, identifying flight patterns, and much more. If you are a causal bird-watcher of any age or merely like to look at birds from your cozy arm chair in from of the fire, you must have this book in your personal library.

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Birds : An Explore Your World Handbook
David M. Bird
Manufacturer: Discovery Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

How does an eagle soar? What's the difference between a warbler and a vireo? How do birds communicate? Why do only some birds migrate? What flowers draw hummingbirds to a garden? Birds, an Explore Your World ™Handbook, answers these and other questions, providing a captivating blend of information and entertainment about one of the most popular hobbies.

Incorporating the Discovery Channel's unique, authoritative approach and acclaimed visuals, Birds goes beyond traditional guides by combining field identification techniques with fascinating background information and practical hands-on advice. Organized in a clear, accessible style, beautifully illustrated with more than 300 full color photographs and illustrations, and packed with the most up-to-date information by expert ornithologists, this comprehensive handbook offers birding enthusiasts a wealth of information in a single portable source.

Birds is divided into three main sections:
"Discovering Birds" provides background information to help birders acquire a strong base of knowledge on the fundamentals of bird anatomy, physiology, and behavior--including how birds live, fly, build nest, reproduce, migrate and communicate.

"Birds in Your Backyard" contains practical advice on exploring birds firsthand--including choosing the right binoculars, building a birdhouse, keeping predators out of a bird feeder, and attracting birds to your backyard.

"Identifying Birds" offers a complete at-a-glance identification guide to 150 of the most common North American birds--including descriptions of size, appearance, voice, nest, and eggs, as well as a range map of each bird's habitat.

Birds is sure to delight, teach and entertain bird enthusiasts, and reveal our wondrous world as never before.

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Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World
Eugene M. McCarthy
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195183231

Book Description

With more than 5,000 works cited, Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World is the greatest compendium of information ever published on hybridization in birds. Worldwide in scope, it provides information on all reported avian crosses, not only those occurring in captivity, but also in a natural setting (approximately 4,000 crosses are covered). This book is a basic reference, intended both for the serious birder and the professional biologist. McCarthy's work fills a need for reference material that takes into account the last half century of data. It will be of interest to workers in a wide variety of fields, ranging from animal behavior to genetics, ecology, zoology, and systematics. In fact, it will make fascinating reading for anyone interested in birds and the natural world.

Bird Trapping and Bird Banding: A Handbook for Trapping Methods All over the World

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Truly outstanding!!!
very informative

Bird Trapping and Bird Banding: A Handbook for Trapping Methods All over the World
Hans Bub
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

Truly outstanding!!!.......2006-02-19

Finally, a comprehensive compendium about bird trapping and banding, a must have for anyone serious about field ornithology.

very informative.......2005-04-28

I think this is probably the most usefull book for any ornithologist interested in banning birds. There are also invaluable informations to game warden on traps which might be used by poachers. It covers all trapping methods which are used to catch birds alive.

Seabirds of the World (Photographic Handbooks)

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Seabirds of the World (Photographic Handbooks)
Jim Enticott , and David Tipling
Manufacturer: New Holland Publishers Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Handbook of the Birds of the World: Broadbills to Tapaculos (Handbook of the Birds of the World)

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Handbook of the Birds of the World: Broadbills to Tapaculos (Handbook of the Birds of the World)

Manufacturer: Lynx Edicions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 8 (Broadbills to Tapaculos)

Birds of the Ocean : A Handbook for Voyagers : Containing Descriptions of All the Seabirds of the World

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Birds of the Ocean : A Handbook for Voyagers : Containing Descriptions of All the Seabirds of the World
W. B. Alexander
Manufacturer: G. P. Putnam's Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V0HZNE

Birds of the ocean,: A handbook for voyagers containing descriptions of all the sea-birds of the world, with notes on their habits and guides to their identification,

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Birds of the ocean,: A handbook for voyagers containing descriptions of all the sea-birds of the world, with notes on their habits and guides to their identification,
W. B Alexander
Manufacturer: G.P. Putnam's Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B00085PO3A

Birds of the ocean;: A handbook for voyagers, containing escriptions of all the sea-birds of the world, with notes on their habits and guides to their identification

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Birds of the ocean;: A handbook for voyagers, containing escriptions of all the sea-birds of the world, with notes on their habits and guides to their identification
W. B Alexander
Manufacturer: Putnam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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