Russell Kirk: Debating his legacy

Does Alan Wolfe know what he is talking about? That is the question posed by Paul Gottfried of Elizabethtown College in a blog post on Taki's Top Drawer. Gottfried is writing in response to an essay by Wolfe in The New Republic in which he critically explores the legacy of the conservative luminary Russell Kirk.

Not surprisingly, Gottfried is not alone in denouncing Wolfe. Jeffrey O. Nelson, president of the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, writes on the National Review Web site: "One could write a thesis on Wolfe’s misreading of Kirk’s understanding of American constitutionalism, but it would make dull reading, since Wolfe is a minor figure and his errors are so obvious." And over at The American Scene, Daniel Larison of The American Conservative asks, "Does anyone care what Alan Wolfe thinks?"