After reading this transcript of a lecture by the great American conservative Russell Kirk on his most recommended books relating to conservatism, I deciding to list the books that he mentioned as the poorly written transcript is very hard to decipher.
I will also add some of my own suggestions to the list. This will be of great benefit for those who wish to learn about conservatism.
It is important to note that because of conservatism's anti-ideology stance there is no "Bible" of conservatism as something like 'Das Kapital' is of communism.
Here is the list of Kirk's 10 most recommended conservative books:
Reflections on the Revolution in France - Edmund Burke
Democracy in America - Alexis de Tocqueville
The American Democrat - James Fenimore Cooper
The American Republic - Orestes Brownson
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity - James Fitzjames Stephen
Is Life Worth Living? - W.H. Mallock
Democracy and Leadership - Irving Babbitt
The Attack on Leviathan - Donald Davidson
The Social Crisis of Our Time - Wilhelm Ropke
Notes towards the Definition of Culture - T. S. Eliot
As Russell Kirk is an American there is a specific focus on American conservativism and the American political arrangements. The books that I will recommend will be either more general political philosophy or be more concentrated on the British nation.
Here are my recommendations:
Conservatism: Dream and Reality - Robert A. Nisbet
The Conservative Mind - Russell Kirk
The Meaning of Conservatism - Roger Scruton
Arguments Ror Conservatism - Roger Scruton
The Abolition of Britain - Peter Hitchens
Well, I hope you enjoy both the recommendations of Mr. Kirk and those of myself. I also hope that if you aren't already a conservative, then that you are persuaded to become one of us after reading these books.
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There is a relatively new edition (early 90s) of Ropke's Social Crisis. Here is the Amazon UK link:
ReplyDeleteThe Social Crisis of our time
Thank you for that.
ReplyDeleteI edited it in.