Books Reviewed
American conservatism has achieved a respectability for itself greater today than at any time in the last fifty years. This is partly due to the failures of its rivals on the left and partly because of the success of conservative politicians. But conservatism evidently remains a body without a head. What is it conservatives want to conserve? What vision do they have for America?
No one reflects the increased respectability of American conservatism more than George F. Will, author, syndicated columnist, and television commentator. But Will's latest book, Statecraft as Soulcraft, has yet to receive a favorable review in any conservative journal. Dennis E. Teti's review essay attacks Will on different grounds. The Review asked David Green, who has followed Will's work for some time, to respond to Teti. Finally, Richard L. Williams indicates how problematic is the endeavor of another conservative, Burton Yale Pines, in Back to Basics.
A review of Statecraft as Soulcraft – What Government Does, by George F. Will
In choosing a journalist to deliver the 1981 Godkin Lectures, Harvard University selected one of the very best-George F. Will, who has expanded those lectures into this, his first full-length book. Like his widely syndicated, Pulitzer Prize-winning columns, collected in his Pursuit of Happiness and Other Sobering Thoughts, this work contains political insights showing that a journalist and television commentator (ABC) can be both elegant and thoughtful. Thus Will (Ph.D., Princeton) is in an extraordinary position to edify a vast audience. Unfortunately, this great potential for public benefit merely intensifies our exasperation at the ultimate failure-indeed the folly-of Will's case for an American brand of "European" conservatism.