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Philosophy
A Conflict of Visions Thomas Sowell's account of the constrained and unconstrained visions of human nature that sort political disputes into two camps. Anarchy, State, and Utopia Robert Nozick's 1974 case that only a minimal state is justified, and that patterned redistribution violates individual rights. Crisis of the House Divided Harry Jaffa's 1959 reading of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, defending Lincoln's appeal to the Declaration's principles. Democracy in America Tocqueville's two-volume portrait of the young United States, praising its liberty and warning of the soft despotism that equality can invite. Ideas Have Consequences Richard Weaver's 1948 argument that Western civilization's decline began when it abandoned belief in transcendent truth for nominalism. In Defense of Freedom Frank Meyer's 1962 statement of fusionism, uniting traditional virtue and individual liberty as the program of American conservatism. Natural Right and History Leo Strauss's 1953 critique of historicism and positivism, defending the classical idea that justice has a standard in nature. On Liberty John Stuart Mill's classic defense of free thought and individual liberty, limited only by the harm principle. Rationalism in Politics Michael Oakeshott's essays attacking the belief that politics is a technique to be mastered, and defending practical knowledge and tradition. Reflections of a Neoconservative Essays by Irving Kristol, the founder of neoconservatism, on capitalism, culture, foreign policy and the failure of the liberal faith. Reflections on the Revolution in France Edmund Burke's 1790 warning that the French Revolution's abstract rights would end in terror, and the founding text of modern conservatism. Suicide of the West James Burnham's 1964 argument that liberalism is the ideology of Western decline, a doctrine of guilt that disarms civilization. The Abolition of Man C. S. Lewis's short defense of objective moral values, and his warning about schooling that treats them as feelings. The Conservative Mind Russell Kirk's 1953 history of conservative thought from Burke onward, which named a movement and gave it a canon of principles. The Constitution of Liberty Hayek's 1960 case that freedom means freedom from coercion under general law, and that planning and the welfare state quietly erode it. The Great Debate Yuval Levin's 2014 account of the Burke-Paine quarrel over the French Revolution as the origin of the modern left-right divide. The Law Frédéric Bastiat's 1850 pamphlet arguing that law should only protect life, liberty and property, and that legal plunder is its great corruption. The New Science of Politics Eric Voegelin's 1952 argument that modern ideologies are Gnostic heresies, and that a political order needs its symbols of transcendence. The Quest for Community Robert Nisbet's 1953 study of how the modern state grows as families, churches and local groups weaken, leaving individuals isolated. The Revolt of the Masses Ortega y Gasset's 1930 diagnosis of mass man, who demands rights and comforts but accepts no duty, and the danger he poses to civilization. The Spirit of the Laws Montesquieu's 1748 comparison of governments, whose doctrine of separated powers shaped the American Constitution. The Theory of Moral Sentiments Adam Smith's first book, which grounds morality in sympathy and the impartial spectator, and gives the moral context for his later economics. Two Treatises of Government John Locke's argument that government exists by consent to protect life, liberty and property, and may be resisted when it betrays that trust. Why Liberalism Failed Patrick Deneen's 2018 argument that liberal individualism has undermined the communities and virtues it needs, producing the populist backlash.