A Decade’s Harvest

Although Professor Jeffrey Hart’s new book on conservatism is manifestly a document of importance, your reviewer approached it with some uneasiness. The American Dissent is based on extensive quotations from and analysis of articles which appeared in national review in the decade 1955-65, and despite the pleasure of association with this journal as constant reader and occasional contributor, I found something appalling about the idea of wading through a Schimpflexikon of quotations from this magazine or any other. There is nothing easier to assemble if one is willing to let his scissors and pastepot do the work; but there is nothing harder to do if one wants to write something original, and important.

These fears were unworthy. Professor Hart and his task are well met, as those who scanned over the excerpts from his book in the 10th anniversary issue of NR last fall may already have divined. Hart has indeed made extensive use of material appearing in NR, or otherwise fashioned by its contributors, with scrupulous attention to context and nuance. But he has also brought to the book a discerning and comprehensive sympathy for the various aspects of modern conservatism, which makes the work distinctively his own. Employing the major voices of the conservative movement and letting them express their chief concerns and differing emphases, he has nevertheless stamped the work with the character of his own thought. And since that thought is wide-ranging and alive to what is central and enduring, the book is a complete success.

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M. Stanton Evans

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William F. Buckley Jr.

Although Professor Jeffrey Hart’s new book on conservatism is manifestly a document of importance, your reviewer approached it with some uneasiness. The American Dissent is based on extensive quotations from and analysis of articles which appeared in national review in the decade 1955-65, and despite the pleasure of association with this journal as constant reader and occasional contributor, I found something appalling about the idea of wading through a Schimpflexikon of quotations from this magazine or any other. There is nothing easier to assemble if one is willing to let his scissors and pastepot do the work; but there is nothing harder to do if one wants to write something original, and important.

These fears were unworthy. Professor Hart and his task are well met, as those who scanned over the excerpts from his book in the 10th anniversary issue of NR last fall may already have divined. Hart has indeed made extensive use of material appearing in NR, or otherwise fashioned by its contributors, with scrupulous attention to context and nuance. But he has also brought to the book a discerning and comprehensive sympathy for the various aspects of modern conservatism, which makes the work distinctively his own. Employing the major voices of the conservative movement and letting them express their chief concerns and differing emphases, he has nevertheless stamped the work with the character of his own thought. And since that thought is wide-ranging and alive to what is central and enduring, the book is a complete success.