The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution (Critical Issues in American History) [Hardcover]

Gregory L. Schneider (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 074254284X | ISBN-13: 978-0742542846 | Publication Date: December 16, 2008

This concise history focuses on the development of American conservatism in the twentieth century up to the present. Gregory Schneider traces the course of a once-reactionary movement opposed to progressive reform and the New Deal and describes how it came to advance alternative policies and programs that revolutionized the shaping of domestic politics, foreign policy, and economic policy. Along the way he profiles such influential thinkers as William F. Buckley, Frank Meyer, Henry Regnery, and Barry Goldwater. He also details how the decline of liberalism after the 1960s helped conservatives gain political power, and how their energized activism and organization culminated in the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Schneider also describes how the years since the Reagan Revolution have been decidedly mixed for American conservatives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A historian of American conservatism, Schneider (editor of Conservatism in America since 1930: A Reader) effectively outlines what he sees as the development of conservatism through the 20th century from a reactionary philosophy into a revolutionary and politically successful movement. To this end he traces conservatism from initial opposition to progressivism and the New Deal, examining various policies and reforms that have elevated conservatism to its current pinnacle as a powerful political force. Briefly profiling key personalities, from H.L. Mencken to Phyllis Schlafly and Barry Goldwater, he also examines organizations like the John Birch Society and the lesser-known Philadelphia Society, and movement milestones, including the disappointment older conservatives felt with Reagan, the Gingrich revolution, the rise of the Fox News Channel and the bromidic verbal ripostes of Ann Coulter. Schneider takes a broad approach, considering conservatism a protean movement that eludes easy definition, and succeeds in illustrating his assertion that this fluidity has allowed conservatism to flourish for an entire century. Students of political history will find a valuable perspective in this study. (Nov.)
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Review

Gregory L. Schneider has written an astute and absorbing contribution to the growing historical scholarship on American conservatism. In this well documented study, he demonstrates that modern conservatism has not been a static phenomenon but a supple, variegated, and resilient influence in American politics. (Nash, George H. )

Schneider takes a broad approach, considering conservatism a 'protean' movement that eludes easy definition, and succeeds in illustrating his assertion that this fluidity has allowed conservatism to flourish for an entire century. Students of political history will find a valuable perspective in this study. (Publishers Weekly )

Schneider . . . does a spirited job of walking through the standard post-Buckley history, but with a careful emphasis on what was new about its traditionalism, what was tossed away in its conservatism, what was statist in its supposed defenses of liberty. (Reason )

Gregory L. Schneider offers a thorough account in his new survey, The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution. Schneider's copious account of the post-war conservative movement is superb. He offers good surveys of the few American conservative thinkers of the Progressive and New Deal eras such as Albert Jay Nock, Irving Babbitt, Paul Elmer More, Ralph Adams Cram, and the Southern Agrarians.... (Steven Hayward Claremont Review Of Books )

Gregory L. Schneider offers a more thorough [account] in his new survey, The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution precisely because it is limited to the 20th century. . . . Schneider's copious account of the post-war conservative movement is superb. (Claremont Review Of Books )

Gregory L. Schneider has already established a reputation as one of the preeminent historians of American conservatism. Steeped in a deep appreciation for the intellectual diversity of American conservatism and the long and arduous path that led conservatives from relative obscurity to political power, The Conservative Century will unquestionably assume a position next to George Nash's Conservative Intellectual Movement in America as one of the most insightful books on the subject. (Marc A. Eisner )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (December 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074254284X
• ISBN-13: 978-0742542846
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #348,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A valuiable collection, May 25, 2011

By 

Wayne J. Thorburn "Wayne Thorburn" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution (Critical Issues in American History) (Hardcover)

Once again, Greg Schneider has produced a valuable collection to the small cottage indutry of works on modern American conservatism. In a brief (262 pages or thereabouts) survey of the last century Schneider highlights some of the major trends that produced a modern American conservatism over the last 50 years, putting it all into a broader perspective. One can only hope that this work appears on more and more college library shelves as a needed balance to the prevalence of liberal works on American history and politics.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars HIstory from a Professional, November 20, 2009

By 

Tim Giles (Canton, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution (Critical Issues in American History) (Paperback)

I detest conservative Republicanism, so a wave of nausea hit me as I discovered the book was donated to the library by our state senator. Surprise! This is not an opinionated diatribe. It is the work of a professional historian. There is hardly a whiff of opinion. It is a careful recitation of what conservatives thought and did right up to the Iraq war.

The biggest surprise was that in 1998 PNAC wrote a letter to President Clinton advocating regime change in Iraq. I'm 70 and I enjoyed this coherent review of what happened.