A friend brings to my attention one of the first really accurate reviews of Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism
in the mainstream media. It’s from the Financial Times, in a piece by Gideon Rachman that also covers David Frum’s Comeback, Michael Gerson’s Heroic Conservatism
, and Jacob Heilbrunn’s They Knew They Were Right
. The lede gets it exactly right: “Ever since the ‘Reagan revolution’, conservative intellectuals have dominated the battle of ideas in American politics. But the success of Jonah Goldberg’s silly book, Liberal Fascism, suggests that American conservatism may now be in some intellectual trouble.” Rachman’s takes on the other three books seem pretty close to the mark as well (especially his likening of David Frum’s program to David Cameron’s Tory socialism.)
Over in the New York Times, Michiko Kakutani gives a mixed-to-scathing review to Michael Scheuer’s latest, Marching Toward Hell
. But it’s the kind of review that, even when negative, makes me all the more interested in reading the book. I suspect this review is one of the notices that prompted Scheuer to write to Lew Rockwell, “to say that the reception of my new book by the establishment press has given me some small idea of what Dr. Paul has gone through. Defending America effectively seems to be a filthy, inhuman idea to the intelligentsia. My already great respect for Dr. Paul has grown larger as a result.”
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on March 17, 2008 at 2:53 am and is filed under Books.
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Tags: David Frum, Gideon Rachman, Heroic Conservatism, Jonah Goldberg, Liberal Fascism, Michael Gerson, Michael Scheuer, Michiko Kakutani
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March 17, 2008 at 3:53 am
I am interested in purchasing Marching Towards Hell, too. I am confused though, should I buy his other two books or is his 3rd just an updated version of what he wrote previously?
March 17, 2008 at 3:54 am
The Scheuer book is a really hardcore attack on internationalism AND multiculturalism. I think it is that two pronged attack that makes the book more vulnerable to attack from mainstream and liberal quarters than his previous offerings were.
March 17, 2008 at 3:55 am
Brent,
Marching Toward Hell is his best book..but it is quite different from the other two. All of them are well worth reading.
Dylan
March 17, 2008 at 4:10 am
[...] on the …Review: Gordon S. Wood on his peers&39 work San Francisco Chroniclewww.calendarlive.comReviews in Review A friend brings to my attention one of the first really accurate reviews of Jonah Goldberg??s [...]