Revolt from the Heartland: The Struggle for an Authentic Conservatism

The dominant forces of American conservatism remain wedded, at all costs, to the Republican Party, but another movement, one with its roots in the pre-World War II era, has stepped forth to fill an intellectual vacuum on the right. This Old Right first rose in opposition to the New Deal, fighting both statism at home and the emergence of an American empire abroad. More recently this movement, sometimes called paleoconservatism, has provided the ideological backbone of modern populism and the opposition to globalization, with decisive effects on presidential politics. In Revolt from the Heartland, now in paperback, Joseph Scotchie provides an intellectual history of the Old Right, treating its main figures and defining its conflict with the traditional left-right political mainstream. As Scotchie’s account makes clear, the Old Right and its descendants have articulated an arresting and powerful worldview. They include an array of learned and provocative writers, including M. E. Bradford, Russell Kirk, Richard Weaver, and Murray Rothbard, and more recently, Clyde Wilson, Thomas Fleming, and Chilton Williamson, Jr. Beginning with the movement’s anti-Federalist forerunners, Scotchie traces its developments over two centuries of American history.