A new book edited by Adam Bellow just arrived on my doorstep. I have not had a chance to read the book yet--just cracked open the introduction by Adam Bellow, and it left a pretty decent taste in my mouth. While many of the essays are by people who are libertarian, not conservative (Bruce Bawer and Glenn Reynolds, for example), Bellow's opening essay emphasizes some of the important themes of Solzhenitsyn's 1978 address at Harvard: that individualism and materialism carried to extremes has its own set of problems. There is considerable common ground between classical liberalism/conservativism and libertarianism, as long as you stay away from the extreme ends of social conservatives and libertarians. (If you want to know where that middle ground is: if libertarians don't insist that the government must recognize gay marriage, social conservatives don't have to insist on making homosexuality a crime.)
Anyway, the publishers of New Threats To Freedom has an essay contest over here. You might want to consider entering your efforts.
I tried to find his book at the Boise Public Library, but they don't have it yet. I picked up an earlier book by him that looked interesting - In Praise of Nepotism.
ReplyDeleteAn amusing title: Adam Bellow is the son of Saul Bellow, editor for many years of Commentary magazine.
ReplyDeleteAdam acknowledges the personal connection and possible perception of nepotism in his introduction. I'm enjoying his work so far.
ReplyDelete"An amusing title: Adam Bellow is the son of Saul Bellow, editor for many years of Commentary magazine."
ReplyDeleteEditor at Commentary for many years? LOL. Way to be a philistine Clayton.
There are no new threats to Freedom, just old ones that have come back in vogue under new management...
ReplyDeleteNot sure where I got the idea that Saul Bellow was editor of Commentary. It's not a magazine that I have ever read.
ReplyDelete