Commentary

The Public Interest at 50

– Adam Keiper, National Affairs, Fall 2015.
Excerpt: Before long, of course, The Public Interest would bring together policy, philosophy, morality, social science, and political economy as had never been done before. Kristol, Bell, Glazer, Adam Wolfson (the journal’s final editor), and their… More

The Theological Politics of Irving Kristol by Matthew Continetti

– Matthew Continetti, "The Theological Politics of Irving Kristol," National Affairs, Summer, 2014.
Excerpt: The February 13, 1979, issue of Esquire magazine did not feature a typical cover model. He was not an actor, a politician, or a sports star. A professor but not a Ph.D., an editor but much more than a journalist, Irving Kristol thought of himself, he… More

A Cheerful Conservative

– Peter Wehner, "Contentions" Blog, Commentary, May 12, 2014.
Excerpt: Building on Tom Wilson’s fine post on the creation of the Foundation for Constitutional Government’s new website devoted to the writings of Irving Kristol (irvingkristol.org), I thought it worthwhile to recall some of the contributions made by… More

The Brooklyn Burkeans

– Jonathan Bronitsky, "The Brooklyn Burkeans," National Affairs, Winter 2014.
Excerpt: By the time Kristol and Himmelfarb moved back home to New York in 1958, they were entrenched in the classical-liberal tradition and, therefore, primed to react negatively to the sweeping, progressive agendas of the Kennedy and Johnson… More

My Dinner with Irving

– Wilfred M. McClay, "My Dinner with Irving," Mosaic, October 2013.
Excerpt: Several years ago, I gave a lecture at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) on the subject of religion and secularism. Afterward, the discussion continued at a relaxed and intimate dinner for selected guests—an occasion greatly enlivened by the… More

The Art of Persuasion

– Ross Douthat, "The Art of Persuasion," Claremont Review of Books, Fall 2011. (A review of The Neoconservative Persuasion by Irving Kristol.)
Excerpt: At times, the essays in The Neoconservative Persuasion suggest that these critics have a point. Neoconservatism may not be a rigid ideology, but even as a “persuasion” it comes with certain defining attributes, which recur throughout… More

The Enduring Irving Kristol

– Wilfred M. McClay, "The Enduring Irving Kristol," First Things, August/September 2011. (A review of The Neoconservative Persuasion by Irving Kristol.)
Excerpt: In any event, one must remember that it was in the shadow of events eerily similar in many ways to those of our own times that neoconservatism took shape, both in Irving Kristol’s imagination and as a movement to counter and correct the collapse of… More

Irving Kristol, Edmund Burke, and the Rabbis

– Meir Soloveichik, "Irving Kristol, Edmund Burke, and the Rabbis," Jewish Review of Books, Summer 2011. (A review of The Neoconservative Persuasion by Irving Kristol.)
Excerpt: Renowned as a founder of neoconservativism, Irving Kristol was “neo” in other respects as well. “Is there such a thing as a ‘neo’ gene?” he once asked, because, if there was, he certainly had it. By his own account,… More

A Legacy of Temperament

– Roger Kimball, "A Legacy of Temperament," National Review, June 6, 2011. (A review of The Neoconservative Persuasion by Irving Kristol.)
Excerpt: An honest man, said the poet William Blake, may change his opinions, but not his principles. Irving Kristol, who died in September 2009 just shy of 90, embarked on intellectual life at City College in New York as a Trotskyist. Long before he emerged… More

Ideas Rule the World

– Franklin Foer, "Ideas Rule the World," The New Republic, March 17, 2011. (A review of The Neoconservative Persuasion by Irving Kristol.)
Excerpt: We are still living in the world of total ideological combat that Irving Kristol created (or re-created, since it was also the world into which he was born) in the course of renovating conservatism—where every shred of academic research, and the… More

The Origins of Neoconservatism

– Harvey Mansfield, "The Origins of Neoconservatism" (An interview with Eli Kozminsky), Harvard Political Review, March 7, 2011.
Excerpt: What did Kristol find so radical, yet conservative, about Strauss? The article in Kristol’s book is a review of Strauss’ Persecution and the Art of Writing, which came out in 1952. That was before Strauss wrote the books that were addressed more… More

The Flexible Temperament

– James Piereson, "The Flexible Temperament," The New Criterion, March 2010. (A review of The Neoconservative Persuasion by Irving Kristol.)
Excerpt: Kristol’s intellectual contribution was to bring these fundamental ideas into contemporary debates about politics and public policy through his writings in outlets like the Wall Street Journal and his editorship of The Public Interest, the magazine… More

Three Cheers

– Jeremy Rozansky, "Three Cheers," Counterpoint, Winter 2011. (A review of The Neoconservative Persuasion by Irving Kristol.)
“I myself have accepted the term, perhaps, because, having been named Irving, I am relatively indifferent to baptismal caprice.” So said Irving Kristol of having been called a “neoconservative.” Initially used as an insult for a class… More

The Great Persuader by James W. Ceaser

– James W. Ceaser, "The Great Persuader," The Weekly Standard, February 14, 2011. (A review of The Neoconservative Persuasion by Irving Kristol.)
Excerpt: Of public intellectuals so conceived, there have been only a handful: George Bancroft, whose famous History of the United States and orations sketched out much of the Jacksonian persuasion; John Dewey and Herbert Croly, the tandem who promoted… More

The Neoconservative Persuasion

– Amy Kass, Charles Krauthammer, Irwin Stelzer, Leon Kass, and William Kristol, "The Neoconservative Persuasion" (A panel discussion), February 2, 2011.

Irving Kristol’s Neoconservative Persuasion

– Gertrude Himmelfarb, "Irving Kristol's Neoconservative Persuasion," Commentary, February 2011.
Excerpt: Much has been made of the consistency of tone in his writings—bold and speculative but never dogmatic or academic, always personal, witty, ironic. That tone is not only a matter of style; it suggests a distinctive intellectual… More

Irving Kristol’s Brute Reason

– Paul Berman, "Irving Kristol's Brute Reason," New York Times Book Review, January 30, 2011.
Excerpt: And, in this new spirit, he plunged into his magnum opus, which, instead of a book, was the constructing of something called “neoconservatism.” This was intended to be a new kind of political inspiration, different from the old-fashioned Main… More

Irving Kristol and Republican Virtue

– Peter Wehner, "Contentions" blog, Commentary, January 24, 2011.
Excerpt: On C-SPAN’s series After Words, David Brooks hosted an engaging and wide-ranging interview with William Kristol on The Neoconservative Persuasion: Selected Essays 1942-2009, a collection of essays by Bill’s father, the late Irving Kristol.… More

Beyond Ideology

– James Q. Wilson, "Beyond Ideology," Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2011. (A review of The Neoconservative Persuasion by Irving Kristol.)
Excerpt: The essays in “The Neoconservative Persuasion”—all but one never before brought together in a book—are a remarkable introduction to one of the few people who actually liked being called a neoconservative. As Gertrude Himmelfarb, his… More

Two Cheers for Philanthropy

– Leslie Lenkowsky, "Two Cheers for Philanthropy," Philanthropy, Winter 2010.
Excerpt: In philanthropy as in much else of American life, however, the 1960s challenged older patterns. For foundations, this meant that efforts to change public policy, empower minorities, and foster judicial activism, among other causes, became more… More

The Moral Realism of Irving Kristol by Eric Cohen

– Eric Cohen, "The Moral Realism of Irving Kristol," National Affairs, Winter 2010.
Excerpt: Neoconservatism was, as Kristol always described it, merely a “­persuasion” that tried to “imagine the world as it might be,” but also to “live and work in the world as it was, trying to edge the latter ever so slightly… More

The Problem of Doing Good: Irving Kristol’s Philanthropy

– William Schambra, Rachel Wildavsky, Leslie Lenkowsky, James Piereson, Roger Hertog, Amy Kass, Kim Dennis, Chester E. Finn Jr., Hillel Fradkin, and Adam Meyerson, "The Problem of Doing Good: Irving Kristol’s Philanthropy" (A panel discussion with four additional essays), December 15, 2009.

The Interested Man

– Nathan Glazer, "The Interested Man," The New Republic, November 4, 2009.
Excerpt: I think back to these early days because it seems to me that Irving was all of a piece, almost from the beginning. No comment on his passing has failed to mention the young Trotskyist of Alcove 1 at ccny. But what other young ex-Trotskyist of 1943… More

The Real Irving Kristol

– Norman Podhoretz, "The Real Irving Kristol," Commentary, November 2009.
Excerpt: The obituaries got most of the facts right: that Irving Kristol’s death at the age of 89 marked the passing of one of the most important public intellectuals of the past 40 years; that he began his political life on the radical Left, with a brief… More

The Equilibrist

– Wilfred M. McClay, "The Equilibrist," National Review, October 19, 2009.
Excerpt: LUNCH with Irving Kristol was an experience to remember. I had the pleasure only three times, always in the excellent dining room atop the American Enterprise Institute, but I recall each occasion distinctly and fondly. Our conversations ranged… More

For the Record

– Daniel Bell and Nathan Glazer, "For the Record" (Letters to he editor), The Economist, October 8, 2009.
Excerpt: Daniel Bell, Seymour Martin Lipset and I were not part of Kristol’s project to transform American conservatism. I, his co-editor for many years, consistently supported the Democratic candidate for president, and while he and I agreed on many… More

Irving Kristol, Catholic Social Ethicist?

– George Weigel, "Irving Kristol, Catholic Social Ethicist?" column syndicated by Catholic Press, October 7, 2009.
Excerpt: The Public Interest, which was chiefly responsible for brewing the ideas embodied in the welfare reform of the 1990s, was a journal in defense of subsidiarity and in opposition to what John Paul II called the “Social Assistance State.” That, one… More

A Genius of Temperament

– Joseph Epstein, "A Genius of Temperament," The Weekly Standard, October 5, 2009.
Excerpt: As the last of the New York intellectuals depart the planet, it becomes apparent that Irving Kristol, who published less than most of them, had a wider and deeper influence on his time than all of them. Just how and why is not all that clear, but it… More

My Irving Kristol and Ours by Mary Eberstadt

– Mary Eberstadt, "My Irving Kristol and Ours," The Weekly Standard, October 5, 2009.
Excerpt: “More than anyone alive, perhaps, Irving Kristol can take the credit for reversing the direction of American political culture.” These words taken from the Nation a few years back signal the Irving Kristol the world knows best: the… More

A Great Good Man by Charles Krauthammer

– Charles Krauthammer, "A Great Good Man," The Washington Post, September 25, 2009.
Excerpt: My theory of Irving is that this amazing equanimity was rooted in a profound sense of modesty. First about himself. At 20, he got a job as a machinist’s apprentice at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He realized his future did not lie in rivets, he… More

Irving Kristol

– "Irving Kristol," The Economist, September 24, 2009.
Excerpt: Conservatism, Kristol-style, acquired a “neo”. He was always, he mused, a neo-something: neoMarxist, neoliberal, neo-Orthodox (because he believed, though he wasn’t sure in what, but never went to synagogue). “Neoconservative”, which… More

Was Irving Kristol a Neoconservative?

– Justin Vaïsse, "Was Irving Kristol a Neoconservative?" Foreign Policy, September 23, 2009.
Excerpt: Although a few other neoconservatives followed Kristol’s realist line (Glazer and, to some extent, Jeane Kirkpatrick), for most of the others the idea of retrenching and playing a more modest international role disturbingly looked like the… More

Irving Kristol’s Clear Thinking

– Jonah Goldberg, "Irving Kristol's Clear Thinking," Los Angeles Times, September 23, 2009.
Excerpt: Buckley said that the neocons’ greatest contribution to conservatism was “sociology.” The early National Review conservatism was more Aristotelian, Buckley observed, while the neos brought the language of social science to the debate. National… More

The Practical Liberal by Christopher DeMuth

– Christopher DeMuth, "The Practical Liberal," The American, September 22, 2009.
Excerpt: Irving was, from start to finish, a proponent of vigorous government within its proper sphere. He never passed up a chance to enter a dissent, serious or wisecracking, against libertarian-minded companions such as myself. So I note with some… More

Irving Kristol’s Gone–We’ll Miss His Clear Vision

– Irwin Stelzer, "Irving Kristol's Gone–We'll Miss His Clear Vision," Daily Telegraph, September 22, 2009.
Excerpt: Irving is best known as the godfather of neoconservatism, although his persuasive tools were not those of Tony Soprano or Marlon Brando’s Godfather-figures, but contained in his essays, talks, columns and what he called his “small… More

Irving Kristol: The “Universal Resource”

– Tevi Troy, "Irving Kristol: The 'Universal Resource'," The Corner blog, National Review, September 21, 2009.
Excerpt: Goldwin was not the only White House staffer enamored of Kristol. Then–deputy chief of staff Dick Cheney was a fan as well, and he wrote in a memo to Goldwin, “I greatly appreciate receiving the stuff you’ve been sending me. . . . Anything… More

A Life in the Public Interest

– James Q. Wilson, "A Life in the Public Interest" The Wall Street Journal, September 21, 2009.
Excerpt: The view that we know less than we thought we knew about how to change the human condition came, in time, to be called neoconservatism. Many of the writers, myself included, disliked the term because we did not think we were conservative, neo or… More

Three Cheers for Irving by David Brooks

– David Brooks, "Three Cheers for Irving," The New York Times, September 21, 2009.
Excerpt: Kristol championed capitalism and wrote brilliantly about Adam Smith. But like Smith, he could only give two cheers for capitalism, because the system of creative destruction has victims as well as beneficiaries. Kristol championed middle-class… More

Farewell to the Godfather

– Christopher Hitchens, "Farewell to the Godfather," Slate, September 20, 2009.
Excerpt: The neoconservative faction, or should we say movement, is generally secular and often associated with the name of Leo Strauss. Kristol was one of those who never minded saying that he was a Straussian, and Strauss is unusual among the pillars of… More

Irving Kristol, 1920-2009

– John Podhoretz, "Irving Kristol, 1920-2009," Contentions blog, Commentary, September 18, 2009.
Excerpt: Just an example of Irving’s approach: In 1979, as a first-year student at the University of Chicago, I started a magazine called Midway (later Counterpoint) with my friend Tod Lindberg, now the editor of Policy Review. I sent the first issue to… More

Remembering Irving Kristol

– Peter Wehner, "The Corner," National Review Online, September 18, 2009.
Excerpt: Irving was a great man, a model and courageous public intellectual, and a giant in the conservative movement. He brought to it enormous intelligence and scholarship, great learning and wisdom, a jolly good sense of humor, and all the right… More

The Godfather, R.I.P.

– Myron Magnet, "The Godfather, R.I.P.," City Journal, September 18, 2009.
Excerpt: His own world-historically influential magazine, The Public Interest, bore Irving’s stamp of practicality and realism, indeed of realpolitik. It aimed, through its hard-headed emphasis on social-scientific data, to rise above mere theorizing and… More

Irving Kristol, Godfather of Modern Conservatism, Dies at 89

– Barry Gewen, "Irving Kristol, Godfather of Modern Conservatism, Dies at 89," New York Times, September 18, 2009.
Excerpt: Irving Kristol, the political commentator who, as much as anyone, defined modern conservatism and helped revitalize the Republican Party in the late 1960s and early ’70s, setting the stage for the Reagan presidency and years of conservative… More

Irving Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, and the Jewish Religion

– Allan Arkush, "Irving Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, and the Jewish Religion," in Reason, Faith, and Politics: Essays in Honor of Werner J. Dannhauser, ed. Arthur M. Melzer and Robert P. Kraynak, (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008).

Our Own Cool Hand Luke

– Charles Krauthammer, "Our Own Cool Hand Luke," The Washington Post, April 29, 2005.
Excerpt: Kristol’s influence and intellect and importance to the political history of our time are well known. The most remarkable and least known thing about him, however, is his temperament. He is a man of unique equanimity. His preternaturally even… More

Kristol Clear

– Bruce Bartlett, "Kristol Clear," National Review Online, June 26, 2002.
Excerpt: This critical foundation, which Kristol put together in the 1970s, all came together with the Reagan campaign in 1980. The people and the policies Kristol had nurtured for a decade behind the scenes became Reagan’s advisors and program.… More

The Family Way

– Jacob Weisberg, "The Family Way," The New Yorker, October 21 & 28, 1996.
Excerpt: Someone imperfectly versed in the idiosyncrasies of American political life might have found Irving Kristol’s seventy-fifth-birthday party a bit peculiar. Gathered to celebrate the occasion at the American Enterprise Institute, in Washington,… More

Godfather

– Wilfred M. McClay, "Godfather," Commentary, February 1996. (A review of Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea by Irving Kristol.)
Excerpt: Perhaps, then, there is another sense in which Kristol deserves the appellation of “godfather.” Ever since the appearance of Mario Puzo’s book of that title, there has been a tendency to think of a godfather as nothing but a power broker. But… More

Reflections of a Neoconservative Disciple

– Mark Gerson, "Reflections of a Neoconservative Disciple," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

Culture and Kristol

– Robert H. Bork, "Culture and Kristol," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

The Need for Piety and Law: A Kristol-Clear Case

– Leon R. Kass, "The Need for Piety and Law: A Kristol-Clear Case," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

A Third Cheer for Capitalism

– Irwin Stelzer, "A Third Cheer for Capitalism," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

A Tribute to Irving Kristol

– William E. Simon, "A Tribute to Irving Kristol," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

Twice Chosen: Irving Kristol as American

– Michael Novak, "Twice Chosen: Irving Kristol as American," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

The Common Man’s Uncommon Intellectual

– Michael S. Joyce, "The Common Man's Uncommon Intellectual," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

Following Irving

– Norman Podhoretz, "Following Irving," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

A Letter from Paris

– H. J. Kaplan, "A Letter from Paris," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

The Australian Connection

– Owen Harries, "The Australian Connection," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

Irving Kristol in London

– Sir Peregrine Worsthorne, "Irving Kristol in London," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

Irving Kristol’s Moral Realism

– Philip Selznick, "Irving Kristol's Moral Realism," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

An Old Friend’s Image

– Earl Raab, "An Old Friend's Image," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

A Man without Footnotes

– Nathan Glazer, "A Man without Footnotes," in The Neoconservative Imagination: Essays in Honor of Irving Kristol, ed. Christopher DeMuth and William Kristol, (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1995).

Toasts and Remarks Delivered at a Dinner in Honor of Irving Kristol on His Seventy-fifth Birthday

– Christopher DeMuth, George Will, Walter Berns, Midge Decter, Charles Krauthammer, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and William Kristol, "Toasts and Remarks Delivered at a Dinner in Honor of Irving Kristol on His Seventy-fifth Birthday," The American Enterprise Institute, January 21, 1995.
Excerpt: If what is called neoconservatism is by now an institution of sorts, it truly is what Emerson said institutions are–the lengthening shadow of a man. And the man is Irving Kristol. I shudder to think what would have happened if he had not broken… More

Kristol’s Red Persuasion?

– Robert Lekachman, "Kristol's Red Persuasion?" The Nation, October 29, 1983. (A review of Reflections of a Neoconservative: Looking Back, Looking Ahead by Irving Kristol.)
Excerpt: In sum, at their worst these polemics are diatribes against the world supposedly made by liberals and those to the left of them. At their best, they convey much thoughtful, somber insight into the origins and consequences of capitalist materialism.… More

Irving Kristol, Standard-Bearer

– Peter Steinfels, "Irving Kristol, Standard-Bearer," a chapter in The Neoconservatives: The Men Who Are Changing America's Politics (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1979).