Not Quite Right

Micklethwait and Wooldridge, both writers for The Economist, have chosen a book title with two meanings. They are exploring American conservatism, which they see as a nation within a nation, with its own beliefs and folkways. They also wish to explain why America is so much more conservative than all other advanced countries. Their conclusion: America’s conservatism is rooted deeply in its character, and is likely to grow.

A friend said to me once about another British author’s books that they may have small errors of fact and large errors of interpretation, but you are always guaranteed a great read. That is true of this book. American conservatives will want to like this book because its conclusion is so congenial and because sympathetic accounts by foreigners are so rare. But the frequency of the small errors and the size of the large ones are finally too much to ignore.

About the Author

Ramesh Ponnuru

Ramesh Ponnuru is the editor of National Review, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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Micklethwait and Wooldridge, both writers for The Economist, have chosen a book title with two meanings. They are exploring American conservatism, which they see as a nation within a nation, with its own beliefs and folkways. They also wish to explain why America is so much more conservative than all other advanced countries. Their conclusion: America’s conservatism is rooted deeply in its character, and is likely to grow.

A friend said to me once about another British author’s books that they may have small errors of fact and large errors of interpretation, but you are always guaranteed a great read. That is true of this book. American conservatives will want to like this book because its conclusion is so congenial and because sympathetic accounts by foreigners are so rare. But the frequency of the small errors and the size of the large ones are finally too much to ignore.