The Conservative Bookshelf: Essential Works That Impact Today's Conservative Thinkers (Paperback)

by Chilton Williamson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
One doesn't have to read much of this excellent book to wonder whether its subtitle is wishful thinking. Many of the works discussed are demanding, the likes of Augustine's City of God, Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, and Richard M. Weaver's Ideas Have Consequences--hardly books that Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, or David Brock might curl up with. But as Williamson elucidates in the introduction, these books reflect conservatism, not the neoconservatism of current Republicans. And what is conservatism? "Man's willingness to discern for himself, and to accept from God, a fundamental, practical, just, human, and unchangeable plan for man--and to stick with it," Williamson says, later distinguishing two branches of conservatism, one "founded on eternal principles" and one "that appeals to historical context and the status quo, prudence, and pragmatism." Williamson presents 50 selected books in declension of categories, beginning with theology and ending with contemporary affairs. Book number 1 is the Bible; book 50 is Treason, by Anne Coulter, despite her support of the Bush administration. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Citadel (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806526912
• ISBN-13: 978-0806526911
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,313,289 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Be A Thinking Conservative, November 11, 2004

By	Steve Jackson "stevejackson100atyahoocom" (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Conservative Bookshelf: Essential Works That Impact Today's Conservative Thinkers (Hardcover)

Long-time conservative book reviewer Chilton Williamson discusses 50 books "that impact today's conservative thinkers." The books date from the Bible to Thomas Fleming's 2004 THE MORALITY OF EVERYDAY LIFE. He provides an overview of each work, discusses its author and, when appropriate, relates it to contemporary issues (such as the neocon/paleocon dispute). The books are divided into religion, politics, society, literature, economics, and present day disputes. I should note that the "texts" under consideration are serious works and not a collection of anti-Clinton screeds written by second-tier neoconservatives. If you've always wanted to know what works elaborate on the essentials of conservative thought, Mr. Williamson is a sure guide. If you don't want to know why Burke was a Rockingham Whig instead of a Tory, then look someplace else.

Ten of the 50 books are works of fiction. I don't have a problem with that, but as a result there are some important thinkers who are not mentioned that most would consider "essential" to contemporary conservatism (such as Eric Voegelin and Christopher Dawson). I also would have liked to see a little more interaction with libertarianism. Von Mises and Rothbard are mentioned only once. While Von Mises was not a conservative in the contemporary sense of the word, every conservative should read HUMAN ACTION. In addition, the section on religion is quite slim, and it would have been a good place to mention Dawson.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Paleoconservative Bookshelf, July 13, 2005

By	Michael Kim (Elk Grove, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Conservative Bookshelf: Essential Works That Impact Today's Conservative Thinkers (Hardcover)

Mr. Williamson goes over 50 books he considers most strongly reflects his view of what being a true conservative means. The 50 books are organized into several subjects in rank of decreasing importance with religion on top, then politics, society, economics, the prophetic artist (works of fiction), and the present day. Each book is summarized in a four to ten page chapter with Mr. Williamson often commenting on the work's importance in today's world. The one central key to understanding Mr. Williamson's compilation is the selection is heavily biased towards a traditional view of conservatism or in today's political lingo Mr. Williamson is a paleoconservative. One can view today's conservative movement in the US as being made up of three pillars: traditional conservatives, neo-conservatives, and libertarians. Each strain of conservatism is represented by a major political magazine. The National Review might be the most representative of traditional conservatives (although neo-conservative views are well represented), the Weekly Standard is dominated by neo-conservatives, and Reason magazine takes a libertarian position. Mr. Williamson does not hide his preference for traditional conservatism and his disdain of neo-conservatives. In reading this book one is not sure if Mr. Williamson has more hatred of the left or the neo-conservatives. Mr. Williamson would describe a true conservative as being the conservatism that grew out of the 19th/early 20th centuries. I believe that Mr. Williamson would be much more a fan of late 19th century populist William Jennings Bryant than say Theodore Roosevelt. To Mr. Williamson true conservatism is embodied with respect for tradition, distrust of big government and large corporations, faith, love of country, isolationist foreign policy, pragmatism, distrust of one size fits all theoretical solutions, and acceptance that each nation will have its own peculiar culture and institutions worth defending. Mr. Williamson summarized these as the values of "small town" America.
Mr. Williamson does not include a single writer from the neo-conservative movement, except perhaps Ann Coulter, ignoring the Kristols, David Horowitz, etc. He basically ignores the libertarians although he does include Hayek's Road to Serfdom. This bias against libertarians and neo-conservatives can be shown most illustratively in his exclusion of any writings from Milton Friedman in the Economics section, or Ayn Rand from his selection of fictional works.
I would recommend this book as it does go over some important works that might led to further exploration. But one has to keep in mind this is a work concentrating on one strain of the conservative movement. This branch of conservatism has seen its influence decline tremendously with the rise of the neo-conservatives. One can feel Mr. Williamson's anger and bitterness as he see his movement being hijacked by imposters or more dangerously a wolf in sheep's clothing.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Guaranteed to give you something to think about!, September 18, 2005

By	Paula L. Craig (Falls Church, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Conservative Bookshelf: Essential Works That Impact Today's Conservative Thinkers (Hardcover)

I found this book a fascinating introduction to paleoconservatism. I consider myself quite conservative in some respects, and quite liberal in others. I have always had trouble understanding where neoconservatives like George Bush were coming from, since their actions so often seemed to throw the best conservative principles out the window. After reading this book, I find that my views match much more with the paleoconservatives. I certainly don't agree with all of the ideas presented, but I found several books that I definitely plan to read. What more can you ask of a survey book like this?
I was surprised to see environmentalism classed by Williamson as a naughty liberal idea. As Williamson says, conservatism is about preferring the familiar to the unknown, the tried to the untried. Williamson has missed the essential conservatism of environmentalism. Since we don't have a spare planet to live on, we should be quite cautious about accepting innovations that will destroy the natural resources our lives depend on. This is true even where those innovations date back some decades, such as the auto-centered culture of modern America. It is true that some environmental proposals are naive, but environmentalists aren't alone in making naive proposals. (The neoconservative idea that America should accept an unlimited number of immigrants strikes me as more naive and stupid than anything the environmentalists have come up with.) Having a stable, sustainable economy with a stable population size is a thoroughly conservative idea--and that's really what environmentalism is about.