The Home of American Intellectual Conservatism — First Principles

February 09, 2010

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Feature Articles
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Bill Buckley as Novelist: The Saga of Blackford Oakes (Part I)
Richard Coulson - 02/09/10
William F. Buckley Jr.When the late William F. Buckley Jr. accepted an invitation to lunch in the fall of 1974 from Sam Vaughan, head of the Doubleday publishing house, he didn’t know where the conversation would lead. Either he or Vaughan eventually raised the question, what kind of new book would Buckley like to write? This marked the beginning of the Blackford Oakes novels, Buckley’s remarkable run of fiction. [more]
Conservatism at the Crossroads
George H. Nash - 02/03/10
CrossroadsAre we witnessing the “death of conservatism,” as the title of a recent book has it? Or is conservatism rising again “on the steppingstones of liberal excesses,” as George F. Will argues? The preeminent historian of American conservatism, George H. Nash, weighs in. [more]
In Memoriam: Ralph McInerny (1929–2010)
Fr. Joseph W. Koterski, S. J. - 02/01/10
Ralph McInernyRalph McInerny, whom the ethicist Thomas Hibbs called “one of the great Catholic intellectuals of our time,” passed away on Friday at the age of eighty. First Principles remembers this philosopher, theologian, poet, novelist, and teacher. . . . [more]
Loyalty (Part II)
Andreas Kinneging - 01/27/10
Loyalty (Part I)
Andreas Kinneging - 01/26/10
Last Things: Aristotelian Principles
James V. Schall, S.J. - 01/20/10
From the ISI Journal Archives
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A Call To Arms
Caleb Stegall (from IR 41:2, Fall 2006) - 01/01/10
It is an occasional convention in conservative literature to talk about the “real split” in the world that animates contemporary political and cultural disagreements, a split deeper than the more pedestrian divide of Republicans versus Democrats. Russell Kirk liked to quote Eric Voegelin’s remark that the “great line of demarcation in modern politics...is not a division between liberals on one side and totalitarians on the other.”... [more]
Return to Reality
Patrick Deneen (from IR 41:2, Fall 2006) - 01/01/10
It has been said that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who believe that there are two kinds of people in the world, and those who know better. Believing in the truth of this statement, I clearly fall into the former category.... [more]
Dissecting a Democratic Illusion
Russell Hittinger (from IR 41:2, Fall 2006) - 01/01/10
A former assistant to Raymond Aron at the College de France and a founder of the quarterly Commentaire, Pierre Manent teaches at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. A World beyond Politics? is his third contribution to Princeton’s “New French Thought” series.... [more]
Real Men Prove Darwin Wrong (Again)
Peter Augustine Lawler (from IR 41:2, Fall 2006) - 01/01/10
Creed & Culture in the American Founding
Bradley C. S. Watson (from IR 41:2, Fall 2006) - 01/01/10
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Reference Desk*
Epstein, Joseph
Lifespan: (1937– )

Joseph Epstein is a teacher, editor, and writer whose literary criticism and familiar essays are marked by a nonideological cultural conservatism. A Chicago native who attended the ... [more]

*Selections from
American Conservatism:
An Encyclopedia

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