12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Conservatism 101, May 11, 2003
Russell Kirk (1918-1994) was a dominant figure in the post-World War II revival of Conservative thought. Toward the end of his life, he gave a series of lectures at the Heritage Foundation which form the basis of THE POLITICS OF PRUDENCE. Like everything Dr. Kirk wrote, the POLITICS OF PRUDENCE is insightful and also a pleasure to read.
The book is in a sense a summing up of Dr. Kirk's though and also a primer on Conservatism. Kirk describes 10 important events in Conservatism, 10 important Conservative books, 10 important Conservative thinkers, and 10 important conservatives. He also has chapters on the nature of Conservatism, Conservative foreign policy and the Conservative approach to various issues.
Dr. Kirk's version of Conservatism is somewhat controversial. According to Kirk, Conservatism is not an ideology, rather it is an "attitude" reflecting "prudence." Kirk defines ideology as a type of secular religion. For this reason, many libertarians have criticized Kirk for reducing Conservatism to an "attitude" rather than a coherent ideology that is able to confront statism. I don't agree with Kirk's definition of "ideology," but it is important to note that Kirk supported free enterprise, and limited (and decentralized) government. Although he wasn't supportive of libertarianism (which he critiques here in a somewhat off the mark essay), he was no apologist for the state.
Two essays stand out here. In "The Neoconservatives: An Endangered Species," he makes the now-famous statement that "And not seldom it has seemed as if some eminent Neoconservatives mistook Tel Aviv for the capital of the United States." In "Toward a Prudent Foreign Policy" he criticizes the first Gulf War as a "war for an oil-can." No doubt Kirk would have opposed the recent Gulf War (and been denounced as an "unpatriotic conservative" by the nitwits who now pass as deep thinkers in the conservative movement.
For an even more basic summary of Kirk's thought, see his book THE AMERICAN CAUSE, which has recently been republished by ISI.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A terrific introduction to conservatism, August 5, 2001
I became a conservative long before I knew what a conservative was, exactly. In fact I didn't know what a conservative was EXACTLY until reading this extremely helpful and clear book. Kirk takes for granted that his readers - or, as other reviewers have pointed out, listeners - will already have read his magnum opus THE CONSERVATIVE MIND, though I had not, and others need not. This work is the more elementary of the two, and to a beginner the more helpful.
Of particular usefulness is his careful distinction between conservbatives and libertarians, and between conservatives and neoconservatives. It had puzzled me for years why neo-cons who I thought of as "almost" conservatives were nonetheless saying in public such appallingly stupid things. Now I know.
By all means, son't stop with this book. Look up his recommended readings and plunge in. Though most are obscure, some can be found in libraries, others at Amazon, and a couple of REALLY hard-to-find items can be gotten at Project Gutenberg, that extraordinary (free) internet resource.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent introduction to proper conservative thinking!, September 10, 1999
By A Customer
Kirk is indeed the father of 20th century American conservatism. This book serves as both an excellent introduction to his foundational writings and to conservatism, properly understood, itself. If you want to study conservatism you couldn't do better than starting with this fine collection of essays.
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