The Irony of Virtue: Essays on Ethics and American Power, 1945-97

In this definitive anthology of one of Americas most respected neoconservatives, Ernest Lefever vividly portrays his spiritual and political pilgrimage from a liberal pacifist during World War II to a humane realist.. This definitive anthology is the fruit of one of Americas most respected neoconservatives. Trained in Christian ethics, Ernest Lefever has been an articulate public policy advocate. Both conservatives and liberals will ignore his views at their peril.In this first-ever anthology of his most important work, Lefever takes a bold and lively march through the second half of the twentieth century. As an acute participant-observer who cares deeply about peace, freedom, and human dignity, Lefever became a neoconservative twenty years before Irving Kristol coined the term. For this volume, Lefever selected forty of his most influential essays from some 500 published pieces. They reveal his dramatic transformation from a liberal pacifist during World War II to a humane realist. This definitive anthology is the fruit of one of Americas most respected neoconservatives. Trained in Christian ethics, Ernest Lefever has been an articulate public policy advocate. Both conservatives and liberals will ignore his views at their peril.In this first-ever anthology of his most important work, Lefever takes a bold and lively march through the second half of the twentieth century. As an acute participant-observer who cares deeply about peace, freedom, and human dignity, Lefever became a neoconservative twenty years before Irving Kristol coined the term. For this volume, Lefever selected forty of his most influential essays from some 500 published pieces. They reveal his dramatic transformation from a liberal pacifist during World War II to a humane realist.The earliest essays, from Lefevers Yale Divinity School days, recount his experience as a civil rights activist during World War II and as a relief worker in the POW camps of postwar Europe. Later essays assess such institutions as the United Nations and the World Council of Churches. Lefever tackles a myriad policy issues from nuclear testing and human rights to arms control and the collapse of communism. His essays on the Berlin Wall and his reappraisal of the Vietnam legacy confirm his skill at combining history, political theory, and opinion journalism. An introductory autobiographical sketch vividly portrays Lefevers spiritual and political pilgrimage.

Table of Contents:
Utopian Beginnings One God, One World, One Blood Sit-In at a Chicago Restaurant Conscience Behind Bars Barbed Wire, Sand, and Tears The UN Meets in London * Toward A Realistic Ethic Moral Consistency and Political Clarity Religion and Communism in Hungary Ethics and World Politics Moralism and U.S. Foreign Policy Reinhold Niebuhrs Enduring Legacy * Christianity And World Politics The World Council of Churches An Absence of Moral Seriousness A Dangerous Political Activism Redeeming the Third World Reckless Rhetoric and Foreign Policy * The Evil Empire New Gods for Old Religious Repression in Russia Dtente, the KGB, and Solzhenitsyn Hobnailed Boots Have No Ideology * The Apocalyptic Premise Ethics, Calculation, and Nuclear Arms Can Nuclear War Be Just? Arms Control vs. Disarmament ABM Is a Shield, Not a Sword The Elite Press and the Present Danger Moral Symmetry and Nuclear Arms * Third World Battleground Five Myths About the Third World Hypocrisy of Neutralism Americas Uncertain Military Burden State-Building in Tropical Africa The Cambodian Bloodbath Trivializing Human Rights Central America Under Siege * The Neo-Wilsonians The UN Cannot Prevent War Limits of UN Crisis Intervention The Illusion of Internationalizing Politics Is the United Nations Obsolete? Perilous Crusades * The God That Failed Treason of the Intellectuals How New Is the New World Order? Reassessing Vietnams Legacy Epilogue: The Last Days of Rome?