Literary Historian Awash

Literary Historian Awash _ PETER P. WITONSKI T A TIME when it was still impos- A sible to have a serious discussion about American conservatism without being overwhelmed by a long list of liberal anathemas—notable more for their banality than their accuracy— The Conservative Tradition in America, by Allen Guttmann. Ox- ford, $6.00 : the distinguished historian Samuel Eliot Morison managed to summon up

enough historical perspective to rise above the prevailing prejudice and call for a renewed study of American conservatism. Admiral Morison ar- gued that our understanding of the American experience would be great- ly enhanced by a “fresh distillation of our entire history, with the con- servative tradition acting as the leav- en.” While we are still a long way from a “conservative interpretation” of American history (at least a good one), the regeneration of a potent