The list of recommended reading for all of conservatism is practically endless. Conservatism, like so many political terms, suffers from a lack of clear definition, resulting in several strains, many of them opposing one another. For this reason, I’m narrowing this article to just the American conservative tradition (which itself is still quite broad, which many different strains). Many conservative thinkers, from Joseph De Maistre to Roger Scruton, are worth reading to understand other strains of conservatism, but will not be mentioned further down because they are outside the American conservative tradition. Since traditions influence one another, this article will be incomplete, but this will be, at minimum, starting grounds to thoroughly understand a vast tradition.
American Conservatism: Russell Kirk et al.
Most of American conservatism is heavily influenced by classical liberalism. Russell Kirk, considered the father of postwar American conservatism, is a good place to start. His book The Conservative Mind unwraps the conservatism of many thinkers influential to the American tradition. Russell Kirk begins with Edmund Burke, who many would consider to be the father of Anglo-American conservatism. Several of his works are highly recommended for grasping the roots of American conservatism, followed by Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.
Kirk’s biography of John Randolph of Roanoke is also recommended, along with the collection John C. Calhoun’s Union and Liberty, to understand the mind of the Southern strain of American conservatism.
The founding fathers are required reading, of course. Thomas Jefferson, although hardly a conservative by European standards, is very influential. John Adams, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton have also influenced American conservatism. The Federalist Papers are a common recommendation, but The Anti-Federalist Papers are also important. Both can be described as conservative movements. The Abbeville Institute continues this Southern American conservative tradition today.
The Old Right
The American Old Right arose in the early 20th century, uniting a wide variety of thought against the New Deal and entry into the Second World War. Much of the thought at the time can only be loosely considered conservative, but it was nonetheless the foundation for today’s American conservatism. Bill Kauffman’s America First is an excellent look into figures of the Old Right. They were, by today’s standards, radically anti-state and anti-war, in the name of defending the old republic.
Three Traditions
From the Old Right can be drawn out three traditions. The first became the American libertarian movement, led by Murray Rothbard and others. I will focus on this movement in another article. The second was the traditionalist movement, led by Russell Kirk, Robert Nisbet, and Richard Weaver. Kirk was of course mentioned earlier, but Nisbet and Weaver are recommended reading for understanding what separates this traditionalist perspective from more mainstream conservatism. Nisbet’s Conservatives and Libertarians: Uneasy Cousins is interesting reading for understanding a conservative perspective on how these two traditions differ.
The third tradition is what largely won out and became “mainstream” conservatism today. It might be called fusionist, a pejorative used to describe Frank Meyer’s claim that the American conservative tradition shares roots in both earlier conservative and classical liberal/libertarian sources. Neoconservative also describes this movement, led by William F. Buckley and dispersed through National Review, which is still around today.
Consisting of many former Trotskyist leftists, the neoconservative movement was pro-war and extremely anti-Soviet. Barry Goldwater’s The Conscience of a Conservative is a classic for this strain of thought, which began gradually blacklisting and expelling antiwar conservative and libertarian voices. Rothbard’s The Betrayal of The American Right chronicles the twisting of mainstream American conservatism to become something quite different.
Modern Age, a journal founded by Russell Kirk, became a source for a great variety of conservatism. It is still around today, and continues to feature voices by American conservatives from many different strains and perspectives.
What is Conservatism? collects essays from many different conservative thinkers around this time, worth reading to understand the diversity of thought within this tradition.
The Paleoconservatives
Paleoconservatism arose after the fall of the Soviet Union, seeking to return to the roots of the Old Right and standing in opposition to the mainstream neoconservatives. The flagbearer of this movement was Pat Buchanan, who insisted on a return to the conservative anti-war tradition and a nationalist economic policy. The Rockford Institute was founded (which has since merged with The Charlemagne Institute) and Chronicles Magazine became (and still is) the key source for paleoconservative thought. Since then, The American Conservative has arisen as an outlet for paleoconservatism as well.
One of the distinguishing issues between these two strains of American conservatism was their understanding of liberal democracy. Neoconservatism grants it and sustains it, while paleoconservatism is far more critical of it. In the 1970s, neoconservative Henry Jaffa and paleoconservative M.E. Bradford carried out a dispute in the pages of Modern Age as to whether equality is a conservative value, with Jaffa in the affirmative, and Bradford in the negative.
Today
All of these strains exist in some form today. Modern Age still features a wide variety of conservative thought, as does the The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). Chronicles and The American Conservative both provide a paleoconservative voice, as well as Tucker Carlson echoing many paleoconservative sentiments. Paul Gottfried, the current editor of Chronicles, is a must read for understanding paleoconservatism. A new strain of conservatism, calling itself National Conservatism, is growing as well.
National Review and FOX (with the exception of Tucker Carlson) are still primarily neoconservative outlets. Ben Shapiro is a key figure in continuing the neoconservative view, and his The Right Side of History shows the mainstream conservative understanding of history. Turning Point USA seems largely based in this form of conservatism as well.
The Abbeville Institute and Brion McClanahan continue the Southern American conservative tradition today.
There is much that I have left out, but what I’ve included will be more than enough to understand the basis of American conservatism and its strains of thought. There is, of course, the libertarian movement that shares some relation and influence, which I have left out besides a single reference. That will be its own article, and other conservative traditions will be treated later as well. If you might be interested in those, feel free to subscribe below.