Rick Perlstein: Bridging left and right
The liberal historian Rick Perlstein has just published his second book on the rise of the conservative movement, and if he isn’t exactly like the fox guarding the henhouse, he’s the fox who’s been invited in, shown a plush sofa and bathed in effusive praise.
The late William F. Buckley called Rick Perlstein’s first book “engrossing” and referred to Perlstein as a “skilled writer with an eye for detail.” Given the subject of “Before the Storm” — Barry Goldwater’s insurgent 1964 campaign for the Republican nomination — it’s hard to imagine a more telling or important compliment.
Tuesday’s release of Perlstein’s second book, “Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America,” is already winning similar praise on the right. The youngish historian Perlstein has become a chronicler extraordinaire of modern conservatism, this time taking up the rise of Richard Nixon as the central figure of a long period of presidential electoral successes. Nixon, Perlstein posits, understood the “inchoate longings” of the American public for law, order and some respect and decency for the little guy, or, in today’s parlance, “white, working-class voters.”
Meanwhile, on his blog, Perlstein gives out a mock award called “The Big Con of the Week” to his favorite conservative charlatan, liar or thief, and he refers to the late Buckley’s brothers-in-arms as “E. Coli Conservatives,” blaming conservative policies for the latest mass food poisonings.
Are you experiencing cognitive dissonance?
In today’s political tribalism of red and blue, one would think the plaudits for Perlstein would place him at the Heritage Foundation or make him a senior editor at The Weekly Standard.
So what is going on here?
The answer, Perlstein says, lies with Buckley himself. The pair developed a warm relationship at the end of Buckley’s life, and Perlstein said in an interview that the godfather of American conservatives is his model: rigorous intellectual inquiry, but with a point of view....
Read entire article at J. PATRICK COOLICAN at Politico.com
The late William F. Buckley called Rick Perlstein’s first book “engrossing” and referred to Perlstein as a “skilled writer with an eye for detail.” Given the subject of “Before the Storm” — Barry Goldwater’s insurgent 1964 campaign for the Republican nomination — it’s hard to imagine a more telling or important compliment.
Tuesday’s release of Perlstein’s second book, “Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America,” is already winning similar praise on the right. The youngish historian Perlstein has become a chronicler extraordinaire of modern conservatism, this time taking up the rise of Richard Nixon as the central figure of a long period of presidential electoral successes. Nixon, Perlstein posits, understood the “inchoate longings” of the American public for law, order and some respect and decency for the little guy, or, in today’s parlance, “white, working-class voters.”
Meanwhile, on his blog, Perlstein gives out a mock award called “The Big Con of the Week” to his favorite conservative charlatan, liar or thief, and he refers to the late Buckley’s brothers-in-arms as “E. Coli Conservatives,” blaming conservative policies for the latest mass food poisonings.
Are you experiencing cognitive dissonance?
In today’s political tribalism of red and blue, one would think the plaudits for Perlstein would place him at the Heritage Foundation or make him a senior editor at The Weekly Standard.
So what is going on here?
The answer, Perlstein says, lies with Buckley himself. The pair developed a warm relationship at the end of Buckley’s life, and Perlstein said in an interview that the godfather of American conservatives is his model: rigorous intellectual inquiry, but with a point of view....