If you were looking for a succinct and well-written primer on traditional American conservatism and the enduring values of the American Founders, you would be hard pressed to do better than
The American Cause by Russell Kirk. Henry Regnery originally published this short work in 1957 during the early days of the Cold War. It was later republished in 1966 in the heart of the revolutionary 1960’s. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has recently decided to again publish this short but timely work. Kirk scholar, and speech writer for former Michigan Governor John Engler, Gleaves Whitney has edited the volume and provided an introduction and afterword. The original work had a heavy emphasis on communism and the communist threat that was appropriate to its time. Whitney has seen to abbreviate or generalize some of the focus on communism as such. This helps to preserve the meat of the book and to limit the distraction of dated political issues. Much discussion remains about communism as an ideology but Whitney’s editing prevents the work from being seen as merely an anti-communist polemic. The result is a book that is still very pertinent to today’s conflicts. In fact, Kirk’s succinct description of American exceptionalism remains one of the most clearly written and eloquently argued synopses of traditional conservatism around.
Addicted to Books
I am in one of those moods where all I want to do is read. I am very busy at work and when I get home I just want to relax. So lately I have been reading up a storm. I have at least to books I want to review here and I am starting a third.
It just so happens that one of the books I have recently read (
The American Cause by Russell Kirk) fits in perfectly with the discussion mentioned below about conservatism and libertarians. Hopefully tonight I can review Kirk’s succinct outline of traditional American conservatism and use that to point out why I am not a libertarian.
After that I will try and tackle Churchill. So check back regularly for original content!
Timbuktu by Paul Auster
Finished Reading another “random book” last night: Timbuktu by Paul Auster a book about a wandering dog. I thought I would give you a quick take.
Obviously a book about a dog appeals to me as I love dogs and consider my own dogs practically my closest companions outside my wife. But while this book was interesting and well written in parts, it is a little to loose and sloppy to be great. Here is the dust jacket intro:
Mr. Bones, the canine hero of Paul Auster’s astonishing new book, is the sidekick and confidant of Willy G. Christmas, a brilliant and troubled homeless man from Brooklyn, As Willy’s body slowly expires, he sets off with Mr. Bones for Baltimore in search of his high school English teacher and a new home for his companion. Mr. Bones is our witness during their journey, and out of his thoughts Paul Auster has spun one of the richest, most compelling tales in recent American fiction.
The problem is that Auster never quite pulls it off. The characters are interesting and the writing is lively – if a bit rambling in a stream of consciousness kind of way – but the little book reads more like a short story.
In the first half of the book Auster introduces the main characters: Willy G. Christmas – to quote kirkus “a logomaniacal drunk who lost his mind in 1968 while a student at Columbia, where he cultivated an image as an outlaw poet and indulged heavily in mind-altering drugs” – and Mr. Bones – his canine companion. While the perspective is Mr. Bones’ Willy is center stage. The story of Willy’s life is an interesting one – from up-and-coming poet to schizophrenic wanderer – and Auster relays it in a light hearted semi-tragic way.
In the second half of the book the story fully switches to Mr. Bones and we get his perspective on the wandering life. Auster uses Mr. Bones to try and get a fresh perspective on human beings. As if we saw life through the eyes of a dog we would gain insight into the human condition. And this is where the book breaks down. It is obviously some sort of meditation on homelessness but it really doesn’t add a great deal of insight or moral clarity – unless you view Mr. Bones’ odd mix of stoicism and tolerance as insight. The deeper you get into the book the more the prose becomes pedestrian and even sappy. The plot lacks a clear point. By the end it reads like a college creative writing essay: “write a story from the perspective of a dog.” I won’t spoil it, in case you want to read it yourself, but I thought the ending was particularly bad.
I wouldn’t recommend you run out and read Timbuktu but if you find the subject interesting – and you enjoy a sort of tragic sense of life – you might enjoy Timbuktu
Getting It Right by William F. Buckley, Jr.
As I have noted before, I am a big fan of WFB (as Mr. Buckley is affectionately know). I own practically every book he has ever written (the only ones I don’t have are the ones he has co-authored or edited) and have read most of them cover to cover (I haven’t read all of his collection of columns). As you probable know by now, I am a conservative and a student of the movement. Given this, it is hard for me to be objective about WFB’s books – especially ones that deal with the conservative movement as this one does. I find them interesting because of my interest in the author and the subject. That said, however, I think Getting It Right is a fascinating and entertaining tale that captures a unique part of American history. It also carries a message about American Conservatism.
The first thing to note about Getting It Right is that it is, in essence, historical fiction. It is a look at the history of Modern American Conservatism in the form of a novel.
Everyman's Library Pocket Poets
I will tell you this the Everyman’s Library has got my number. I have always loved their Classics and I own more than a dozen. Tonight while I was out and about I came across another book series which trapped me in its snare, the Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets:
From Emily Dickinson to W. H. Auden, William Shakespeare to Wallace Stevens, this series of small, elegant hardcover volumes is devoted to the great poets and to anthologies on timeless themes–from love to friendship to prayers. Each book is printed on acid-free paper with a full-cloth sewn binding, gold-stamping, and ribbon marker.
Well, I couldn’t resist such a great combination of packaging and content so I picked up the T.S. Eliot volume. I was sorely tempted to buy a few more but had to restrain myself as I have been on a bit of a binge lately. And I if I keep this up I will never read the books I have bought in the last month.
But these books are great and easy to carry around (hence the “Pocket Poets”) so now I can carry my T.S. Eliot wherever I go!
BTW, if you are looking for an interesting book on T.S. Eliot I recommend Russell Kirk’s Eliot & His Age : T. S. Eliot’s Moral Imagination in the Twentieth Century.
The Pickup Artist by Terry Bisson
Just finished reading another interesting “random book.” I was browsing the shelves of Half Price Books when my eye caught the cover of The Pickup Artist by Terry Bisson. The cover combined with the dust jacket blurb inrigued me.