The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin [Hardcover]

Corey Robin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 2011

Late in life, William F. Buckley made a confession to Corey Robin. Capitalism is "boring," said the founding father of the American right. "Devoting your life to it," as conservatives do, "is horrifying if only because it's so repetitious. It's like sex." With this unlikely conversation began Robin's decade-long foray into the conservative mind. What is conservatism, and what's truly at stake for its proponents? If capitalism bores them, what excites them?

Tracing conservatism back to its roots in the reaction against the French Revolution, Robin argues that the right is fundamentally inspired by a hostility to emancipating the lower orders. Some conservatives endorse the free market, others oppose it. Some criticize the state, others celebrate it. Underlying these differences is the impulse to defend power and privilege against movements demanding freedom and equality.

Despite their opposition to these movements, conservatives favor a dynamic conception of politics and society--one that involves self-transformation, violence, and war. They are also highly adaptive to new challenges and circumstances. This partiality to violence and capacity for reinvention has been critical to their success.

Written by a keen, highly regarded observer of the contemporary political scene, The Reactionary Mind ranges widely, from Edmund Burke to Antonin Scalia, from John C. Calhoun to Ayn Rand. It advances the notion that all rightwing ideologies, from the eighteenth century through today, are historical improvisations on a theme: the felt experience of having power, seeing it threatened, and trying to win it back.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Corey Robin's extraordinary collection, constantly fresh, continuously sharp, and always clear and eloquent, provides the only satisfactory philosophically coherent account of elite conservatism I have ever read. Then there's this bonus: his remarkably penetrating side inquiry into the notion of 'national security' as a taproot of America's contemporary abuse of democracy. It's all great, a model in the exercise of humane letters."--Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland

"This book is a fascinating exploration of a central idea: that conservatism is, at its heart, a reaction against democratic challenges, in public and private life, to hierarchies of power and status. Corey Robin leads us through a series of case studies over the last few centuries--from Hobbes to Ayn Rand, from Burke to Sarah Palin--showing the power of this idea by illuminating conservatives both sublime and ridiculous."--Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy, Princeton University

"Beautifully written, these essays deepen our understanding of why conservatism remains a powerful force in American politics."--Joyce Appleby, Professor Emerita of History, University of California-Los Angeles, and past president of the American Historical Association

"The Reactionary Mind is a wonderfully good read. It combines up-to-the-minute relevance with an eye to the intellectual history of conservatism in all its protean forms, going back as far as Hobbes, and taking in not only restrained and sentimental defenders of tradition such as Burke, but his more violent, proto-fascist contemporary Joseph de Maistre. Some readers will enjoy Corey Robin's dismantling of different recent thinkers--Barry Goldwater, Antonin Scalia, Irving Kristol; others will enjoy his demolition of Ayn Rand's intellectual pretensions. Some will be uncomfortable when they discover that those who too lightly endorse state violence, and even officially sanctioned torture, include some of their friends. That is one of the things that makes this such a good book."--Alan Ryan, Professor of Political Theory, Oxford University

"Robin is an engaging writer, and just the kind of broad-ranging public intellectual all too often missing in academic political science. ...Robin's arguments deserve widespread attention."--The New Republic

"This is a very readable romp through the evils of Conservatism."--The Guardian/Observer

"...an insightful book ... In a world where the old distinctions between left and right seem to be getting stale, Robin's book concentrates our minds on the deeper divisions."--The Daily

"It is a thoughtful, even-tempered sort of book. The old maid tendency that dominates liberal polemic in the U.S.--the shrieking, clutching at skirts, and jumping up on kitchen chairs that one gets from a Joe Nocera, a Maureen Dowd, or a Keith Olbermann--is quite absent. "--The American Conservative

About the Author

Corey Robin teaches political science at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, Harper's, and the London Review of Books.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 29, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199793743
• ISBN-13: 978-0199793747
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart, Fresh Take on the Power of Conservatism, November 13, 2011

By 

catwoman (brooklyn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin (Hardcover)

Are you dumbfounded by what right-wingers like Sarah Palin say and do--but even more so by the fact that so many people are buying what they're selling? Are you still wondering what's the matter with Kansas? You simply must read this book to understand conservatism today: what it is, why it has such a hold on Americans--and how those of us to the left might think and act to effectively counteract it.

The beauty of Robin's book is that he doesn't get sidetracked by typical liberal-conservative debates over things like gun control, taxes, or whether "conservatives are just stupid." Instead he takes conservatism seriously at its theory and practice, traces its roots and, in so doing, ultimately reveals the bankruptcy and nihilism at its core. What conservatism is really about, he argues, is the belief in fundamental, "natural" inequality: between the rich and poor, CEO and worker, husband and wife, white people and people of color. Conservatism is the fight to re-assert and preserve those hierarchies--and the privileges that come with them.

But Robin's argument wouldn't be worth much if the task of reading his book were dull and deadly. Fortunately the author has that ability--so depressingly rare in academics--to produce crisp, lively prose that is blessedly clear of jargon and social-science-speak. At times, such as the chapter on Ayn Rand (find out what she had to say about Charlie's Angels!), the book is downright entertaining. After reading it, I felt better able to make sense of the lunacy that is contemporary American politics, and even a little more hopeful that change is possible.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holds together well (and I appreciate the occasional invective!), November 24, 2011

By 

AJ Casey (DC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin (Hardcover)

I'm so glad I ignored the NYTimes review of this book. Corey Robin provides a coherent synthesis of a whole host of thinkers and thinking, bringing them under one "conservative" umbrella. Robin connects each piece of his argument to an overarching logical framework and I therefore don't understand what it means that he is preaching to the "converted" and this is just red meat for lefties. While progressives may be more open than a conservative to Robin's ideas, this book doesn't preach or rally leftist troops at all. Rather, his book provides a comprehensive explanation, that sort of which I've never run across before summarized in this fashion, of conservative motives and thinking. Just because he pops Ayn Rand once or twice doesn't take away from a solid book.

23 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A genuinely exceptional work., November 13, 2011

By 

John Philip Goan (A High School Student in Minnesota, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Reactionary Mind : Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin (Kindle Edition)

Simply put; this is must-read. I heard the author talking about his work on Australian Brodcastimg Company radio, on a show dedicated to decoding the tea-party movement. I was pleaseantly surprised with the well researched and academically presented work. Political hubris lacking, this is a masterful piece that attacks the question of conservatism with an ethmograhic and historical lens. Worth every minute and penny.