Neo-conservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea

The movement called neo-conservatism has provided the intellectual foundation for the resurgence of American conservatism in our time. And if neo-conservatism can be said to have a father or an architect, that person is Irving Kristol. Schooled in radical socialism in the 1930s, Kristol grew disillusioned with the left and rose to become an ideological foe of the Soviet Union, an active editor and publisher, and a prolific writer in his own right. He helped move a generation of intellectuals to the conservative cause. Neoconservatism is the most comprehensive selection of Mr. Kristol’s influential writings on politics and economics, as well as the best of his now-famous essays on society, religion, culture, literature, education, and—above all—the "values" issues that have come to define the neo-conservative critique of contemporary life. Composed over almost fifty years, these writings offer some of the most lucid, insightful, entertaining, and intellectually challenging essays of our time. “Often persuasive, and very wise...From the beginning, Mr. Kristol’s writing has exhibited a wealth of common sense and understated wit. This book is full of both.”—Andrew Sullivan, New York Times Book Review. “Mr. Kristol possesses a genius for making his sophisticated and nuanced arguments appear the commonplace of everyman.... He has thought and written with admirable clarity, honesty, and courage.”—James Nuechterlein, Wall Street Journal.

Table of Contents:

Part 1 SECTION I
Chapter 2 An Autobiographical Memoir 3
Part 3 SECTION II: RACE, SEX AND FAMILY
Chapter 4 Welfare: The Best of Intentions, the Worst of Results 43
Chapter 5 The Tragedy of "Multiculuralism" 50
Chapter 6 Reflections on Love and Family 54
Chapter 7 Men, Women and Sex 58
Chapter 8 AIDS and False Innocence 63
Chapter 9 Life Without Father 67
Part 10 SECTION III: FROM ADVERSARY CULTURE TO COUNTERCULTURE
Chapter 11 American Intellectuals and Foreign Policy 75
Chapter 12 Capitalism, Socialism, and Nihilism 92
Chapter 13 The Adversary Culture of Intellectuals 106
Chapter 14 The Cultural Revolution and the Capitalist Future 123
Chapter 15 Countercultures 136
Part 16 SECTION IV: CAPITALISM AND THE DEMOCRATIC IDEA
Chapter 17 Machiavelli and the Profanation of Politics 151
Chapter 18 About Equality 165
Chapter 19 The Frustrations of Affluence 179
Chapter 20 Utopianism, Ancient and Modern 184
Chapter 21 Social Reform: Gains and Losses 200
Chapter 22 Business and the "New Class: 205
Chapter 23 Corporate Capitalism in America 211
Chapter 24 On Conservatism and Capitalism 230
Chapter 25 The American Revolution as a Successful Revolution 235
Chapter 26 What is "Social Justice?" 253
Chapter 27 Adam Smith and the Spirit of Capitalism 258
Chapter 28 Socialism: An Obituary for an Idea 300
Part 29 SECTION V: THE CONSERVATIVE PROSPECT
Chapter 30 American Historians and the Democratic Idea 313
Chapter 31 Urban Civilization and Its Discontents 328
Chapter 32 The Republican Future 344
Chapter 33 "The Stupid Party" 349
Chapter 34 The Emergence of Two Republican Parties 354
Chapter 35 The New Populism: Not to Worry 359
Chapter 36 The Coming "Conservative Century" 364
Chapter 37 The New Face of American Politics 369
Chapter 38 America's "Exceptional Conservatism" 373
Part 39 SECTION VI: ON JEWS
Chapter 40 God and the Psychoanalysts 389
Chapter 41 Einstein: The Passion of Pure Reason 405
Chapter 42 Is Jewish Humor Dead? 420
Chapter 43 Christianity, Judaism, and Socialism 429
Chapter 44 The Future of American Jewry 442
Part 45 SECTION VII: SOME BACKWARD GLANCES
Chapter 46 Memoirs of a "Cold Warrior" 457
Chapter 47 Memoirs of a Trotskyist 469
Chapter 48 My Cold War 481
Chapter 49 Index of Names 487