Books
On Jews and Judaism
– Mosaic Books, September, 2014.In September 2014, Mosaic, a web magazine devoted to advancing Jewish ideas, released a new e-book collecting Kristol’s essays on Jews and Judaism, written over six decades. This is a first-rate collection of essays and an indispensable introduction to… More
The Neoconservative Persuasion: Selected Essays, 1942-2009
– New York: Basic Books, 2011.Foreword: In Memoriam: Irving Kristol, 1920-2009: William Kristol Introduction by Gertrude Himmelfarb I. IN THE BEGINNING . . . : Enquiry Auden: The Quality of Doubt A Christian Experiment Other People’s Nerve James Burnham’s The… More
Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea
– New York: Free Press, 1995.SECTION I 1. An Autobiographical Memoir SECTION II: RACE, SEX, AND FAMILY 2. Welfare: The Best of Intentions, the Worst of Results 3. The Tragedy of “Multiculturalism” 4. Reflections on Love and Family 5. Men, Women, and Sex 6. AIDS and… More
Reflections of a Neoconservative: Looking Back, Looking Ahead
– New York: Basic Books, October 1983.I. IN THE BEGINNING… 1. Memoirs of a Trotskyist 2. Memoirs of a “Cold Warrior” II. THE CULTURE OF DEMOCRATIC CAPITALISM 3. The Adversary Culture of Intellectuals 4. Pornography, Obscenity, and the Case for Censorship 5. Urban… More
Two Cheers for Capitalism
– New York: Basic Books, March 1978.PART ONE: The Enemy of Being is Having 1. Corporate Capitalism in America 2. Business and the “New Class” 3. Frustrations of Affluence 4. Ideology and Food 5. The Environmentalist Crusade 6. The Hidden Costs of Regulation 7. Capitalism, Socialism,… More
On the Democratic Idea in America
– New York: Harper, 1972.1. Urban Civilization and its Discontents 2. The Shaking of the Foundations 3. Pornography, Obscenity, and the Case for Censorship 4. American Historians and the Democratic Idea 5. American Intellectuals and Foreign Policy 6. “When Virtue Loses All Her… More
Essays
Religion and Secularism
– “Religion and Secularism” (A commentary on Michael Novak and Roger Scruton), in Religion and the American Future, ed. Christopher DeMuth and Yuval Levin (Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, 2008).Excerpt: Theology is not a fruitful point of contact between the religions. Morality is. There is an important difference between Judaism and Christianity. In Judaism, morality trumps theology, practically always. In Christianity, theology trumps morality,… More
My “Public Interest”
– "My 'Public Interest'," The Weekly Standard, December 18, 2006.Excerpt: In 1965, through a series of circumstances that need not be recounted here, the stars became properly aligned so that my wish could become a reality. Dan Bell and I were able to start a new magazine devoted exclusively to domestic social and economic… More
A Tory Revival Starts With a 10% Tax Cut
– "A Tory Revival Starts With a 10% Tax Cut," [London] Sunday Times, March 29, 2005.Excerpt: Although I am always reluctant to do what that famous Yankee baseball player claimed that his predecessor had done — “He learnt me his experience” — I can’t resist the temptation to answer the question being put by Britain’s Tories in the… More
Forty Good Years
– "Forty Good Years," The Public Interest, Spring 2005.Excerpt: Yet The Public Interest, it should be said, transcended any political ideology, or even any political “disposition.” Inevitably, to be sure, my own political identity spilled over into the public perception of the magazine; there was no… More
Notice to Our Readers
– "Notice to Our Readers," The Public Interest, Spring 2005.Excerpt: The issue you hold in your hands will be The Public Interest’s last. No journal is meant to last forever, and this one won’t try to. We have decided, after forty years, to call it a day.
It Wasn’t Inevitable
– "It Wasn't Inevitable," The Weekly Standard, June 21, 2004.Excerpt: It is generally conceded–even by Senator Kennedy!–that Reagan’s Cold War militancy helped bring about the collapse of Communist Russia. But that’s a deceptive statement. He didn’t help bring it about. He brought it… More
Robert L. Bartley, 1937-2003
– "Robert L. Bartley, 1937-2003," The Weekly Standard, December 22, 2003.Excerpt: Bob Bartley was one of the most influential journalists of the 20th century. He was also a most admirable human being. Although his controversial opinions, strongly expressed, made him enemies, he himself had no enemies. Petty passions were simply… More
The Neoconservative Persuasion: What It Was, and What It Is
– "The Neoconservative Persuasion: What It Was, and What It Is," The Weekly Standard, August 25, 2003.Excerpt: Viewed in this way, one can say that the historical task and political purpose of neoconservatism would seem to be this: to convert the Republican party, and American conservatism in general, against their respective wills, into a new kind of… More
The Education, So to Speak, of a Neoconservative or Why American Conservatism Is Exceptional
– "The Education, So to Speak, of a Neoconservative or Why American Conservatism Is Exceptional" (Bradley Lecture at the American Enterprise Institute), October 15, 2001.Irving Kristol Bradley Lecture The Education, so to speak, of a Neoconservative [EDITED TRANSCRIPT] A few years ago the journals rang me up and asked, do you think neo-conservatism lives, or has it been absorbed into the larger conservative movement? And I… More
Is Technology a Threat to Society?
– "Is Technology a Threat to Society?" The Public Interest, Spring 2001.Excerpt: I think there is some loose thinking about this whole problem of scientists, engineers, and their social responsibilities. When scientists say they want to live up to their social responsibilities, what they usually mean is that they want more power… More
Multimedia
Irving Kristol’s Capitalism
– Audio recording, Tikvah Fund, July 16, 2014.To understand Irving Kristol’s defense and critique of capitalism, National Affairs editor Yuval Levin breaks down Kristol’s 1970 essay “‘When virtue loses all her loveliness’—some reflections on capitalism and ‘the free… More
Irving Kristol: “The Neoconservative Persuasion”
– (Interview of William Kristol by David Brooks), Book TV, C-SPAN 2, February 11, 2011.Mr. Kristol, who wrote the foreword to “The Neoconservative Persuasion,” discusses his late father’s essays on the history of the neoconservative movement. While the essays cover politics extensively, Irving Kristol also presents a… More
The Neoconservative Persuasion: A Tribute to Irving Kristol
– Audio, Video and Transcript. A Hudson Institute panel, February 2, 2011.As conservatives try once again to re-envision America’s future and how to secure it, the publication of this volume of previously uncollected essays by Irving Kristol, “the godfather of neoconservativism,” could not be timelier. The fifty essays,… More