Confessions of a Conservative [Hardcover]

Garry Wills (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 231 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (April 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385089775
• ISBN-13: 978-0385089777
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,185,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Garry Wills is one of the most respected writers on religion today. He is the author of Saint Augustine's Childhood, Saint Augustine's Memory, and Saint Augustine's Sin, the first three volumes in this series, as well as the Penguin Lives biography Saint Augustine. His other books include "Negro President": Jefferson and the Slave Power, Why I Am a Catholic, Papal Sin, and Lincoln at Gettysburg, which won the Pulitzer Prize.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars quirky gem from a true American intellectual, April 17, 2001

By 

Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Confessions of a Conservative (Hardcover)

This book is part autobiography and part essay. While Wills appears to have led a charmed life - breaking easily into conservative journalism and finding love at the same time - it is the essays that are in my opinion the best part of the book. In them, he argues with great sense about why the lack of hard and unyielding convictions in politicians is a good and useful thing (it is their job to horse trade); and why radical change can destroy more than help (society is like a complex living organism). I have thought about these simple, pragmatic ideas for years, and he articulates them better than anyone. The art of politics in democracy is careful change, when society is ready but also when it becomes necessary. He also takes cynics, like Tom Wolfe, to task for ridiculing the liberal and radical pretentions of celebrities.

This is a truly wonderful book, which too few people have ever read, from one of America's best political writers. It is ironic that, while he identifies himself as a conservative, the drift to the right of American politics in the last 25 years makes him sound more and more like a liberal.