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The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism From Edmund Burke To Sarah Palin (2011)

by Corey Robin(Favorite Author)

3.86 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0199793743 (ISBN13: 9780199793747)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

review 1: Robin makes a provocative and unexpected argument that will challenge the conventional wisdom that conservatives and the far right (even fascists) are qualitatively different. He even shows intellectual links between the libertarian right, particularly Ayn Rand, and fascism. The essays were mostly originally published as book reviews, but they are well linked together and comment on consistent themes in conservative thought. In addition to drawing on a depth of knowledge in political theory, this is a very well written book with a number of very quotable bon mots. One of my favorites brings together a number of the book's central ideas. Regarding de Tocqueville he writes, "His drift from the moderation of the July Monarchy to the revanchism of 1848 demonstrates how easily... more and inexorably the Burkean conservative will swing from the beautiful to the sublime, how the music of prudence and moderation gives way to the march of violence and vitriol."
review 2: The Republican primaries were the perfect time to read about this. I love political theory, but it's rare to see a scholar really dig deeply into conservative intellectual thought, especially as far back as the French Revolution. This might be the first time I felt the subject was adequately explored. It reads as a series of essays that fall into one of two parts - the first emphasizing the role of the conservative as a counterrevolutionary, the second about the importance of violence in the ideology's canon. Corey Robin never gets overly theoretical while digging so deeply into the writings of Burke or Maistre, always able to connect these issues to concrete movements and events. less

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