Books

A Christian Experiment

– “A Christian Experiment” (as William Ferry), Enquiry, January 1943. (A review of The Seed Beneath the Snow by Ignazio Silone.)

Excerpt: To Thomas Mann’s dictum:  “In our time the destiny of man presents its meaning in political terms,” we may add the observation, drawn from current intellectual… More

Other People’s Nerve

– “Other People's Nerve” (as William Ferry), Enquiry, May 1943.

Excerpt: The January-February and March-April issues of  Partisan Review have featured a discussion of the “New Failure of Nerve.”  It has been interesting, provocative… More

Adam and I

– "Adam and I," Commentary, November 1946.

Excerpt: I was quite unprepared for Adam, for his peculiar insensibility, his directness, his momentous inertia. He didn’t at all fit the picture that I had imagined—or that had been… More

In Hillel’s Steps

– "In Hillel's Steps," Commentary, February 1947.  (A review of In Darkest Germany by Victor Gollancz.)

Excerpt: In the eyes of the British public, Victor Gollancz is probably one of the outstanding Jewish laymen in the country. When one considers the fact that he is neither especially active… More

The Anti-Semitism of the Communists

– “The Anti-Semitism of the Communists,” The New Leader, May 24, 1947.

The Myth of the Supra-Human Jew: A Theological Stigma

– "The Myth of the Supra-Human Jew: A Theological Stigma," Commentary, September 1947.

Excerpt: It is time, I think, that a distinction is drawn between that concept of the “chosen people” which plays a unique role in Jewish theology—as an affirmation of the loving… More

Nightmare Come True

– "Nightmare Come True," Commentary, October 1947. (A review of The Other Kingdom by David Rousset, Smoke over Birkenau by Seweryna Szmaglewska, and Beyond the Last Path, by Eugene Weinstock.)

Excerpt: We wish that the men in Buchenwald had acted differently, that there had been more human cooperation and self-sacrifice. But how would we have acted? What would we have done in the… More

How Basic Is “Basic Judaism”?: A Comfortable Religion for an Uncomfortable World

– "How Basic Is 'Basic Judaism'?: A Comfortable Religion for an Uncomfortable World," Commentary, January 1948. (A review of Basic Judaism by Milton Steinberg.)

Excerpt: It is social philosophy that is his talking point, and not religion. Judaism, Rabbi Steinberg finds, has an immanent political doctrine that adds up to “political democracy, to a… More

Christian Theology and the Jews

– "Christian Theology and the Jews," Commentary, April 1948.  (Christianity and the Children of Israel, by A. Roy Eckardt.)

Excerpt: Mr. Eckardt, who is an exponent of “neo-Reformation” Protestant Orthodoxy as preached by Paul Tillich and Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr, has chosen a difficult and delicate… More

What the Nazi Autopsies Show

– "What the Nazi Autopsies Show," Commentary, September 1948.

Excerpt: The Nazis are human: that is what the psychiatrists tell us. We always knew that, though it does no harm to have it confirmed. But the Nazis are also non-human: that is what we,… More

Who’s Superstitious?

– "Who's Superstitious?" Commentary, November 1948.

Excerpt: Outside, breathing in the gasoline-scented air of Central Park, I closed my eyes and bid nostalgic farewell to a world that knew not the redeeming truths of biology. Where Jews… More

The Slaughter-Bench of History

– "The Slaughter-Bench of History," Commentary, July 1949. (A review of Faith and History by Reinhold Niebuhr and Meaning in History by Karl Lowitz.)

Excerpt: Judaism is tormented by the fact that the Messiah has not come, while the gas chambers have. Christianity is tormented by the fact that the Messiah did come, almost two thousand… More

God and the Psychoanalysts

– "God and the Psychoanalysts," Commentary, November 1949.

Excerpt: Psychoanalysis was from its very beginnings disrespectful, when not positively hostile, towards all existing religious creeds and institutions. Naturally, the religious… More

Love Affair: Psychoanalysts and Religion

– "Love Affair: Psychoanalysts and Religion," Time, November 14, 1949.

Elegy for a Lost World

– "Elegy for a Lost World," Commentary, May 1950.  (A review of The Earth Is the Lord's by Abraham Joshua Heschel.)

Excerpt: More important is the fact that Dr. Heschel occasionally succumbs to what can only be called romantic simplification. Poland was not, after all, Paradise, and Eastern Europe cannot… More

Einstein: The Passion of Pure Reason

– "Einstein: The Passion of Pure Reason," Commentary, September 1950.

Excerpt: Einstein’s new Jewishness was not the result of his discovering a hidden Jewish self. It was, on the contrary, a new means of escaping from his self. The flight to Reason from… More

Is Western Culture Anti-Semitic?

– “Is Western Culture Anti-Semitic?” The New Leader, December 25, 1950. (A review of The Gentleman and the Jew by Maurice Samuel.)

Is Jewish Humor Dead?

– "Is Jewish Humor Dead?" Commentary, November 1951.

Excerpt: Jewish humor died with its humorists when the Nazis killed off the Jews of Eastern Europe, though it seems likely that even without the intervention of Hitler this humor would not… More

The Philosophers’ Hidden Truth

– "The Philosophers' Hidden Truth," Commentary, October 1952.  (A review of Persecution and the Art of Writing by Leo Strauss.)

Excerpt: No doubt, there will be scholars who will respectfully dispute Professor Strauss on just about every point. They will find, as many already know, that he is a most formidable… More

The Simple and the True

– “The Simple and the True,” Encounter, February 1954.

“When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness”—Some Reflections on Capitalism and “the Free Society”

– "'When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness’—Some Reflections on Capitalism and 'the Free Society'," The Public Interest, Fall 1970.

Excerpt: I use the word “conservative” advisedly. Though the discontents of our civilization express themselves in the rhetoric of “liberation” and… 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… More

The Relationship Between Jews and Revolutionary Forces

– “The Relationship Between Jews and Revolutionary Forces” (Remarks at Van Leer Institute conference, Jerusalem), July 31-August 3, 1972.

Why Jews Turn Conservative

– “Why Jews Turn Conservative,” Wall Street Journal, September 14, 1972.

Republican Virtue vs. Servile Institutions

– “Republican Virtue vs. Servile Institutions” delivered at and then reprinted by the Poynter Center at Indiana University, May 1974. (Reprinted in The Alternative, February 1975.)

Excerpt: This is a serious matter. For the American democracy today seems really to have no other purpose than to create more and more Scarsdales—to convert the entire nation into a… More

Can Values Do the Job Moral Beliefs Used to Do? Namely Keep People Moral?

– “Can Values Do the Job Moral Beliefs Used to Do? Namely Keep People Moral?” Dividend, Spring 1976.

What Is a Liberal–Who Is Conservative?

– “What Is a Liberal–Who Is Conservative?” (A symposium), Commentary, September 1976.

On the Unfairness of Life

– “On the Unfairness of Life,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 1977.

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… More

The Spiritual Roots of Capitalism and Socialism

– “The Spiritual Roots of Capitalism and Socialism,” in Capitalism and Socialism: A Theological Inquiry, ed. Michael Novak (Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute, 1979).

No Cheers for the Profit Motive

– “No Cheers for the Profit Motive,” Wall Street Journal, February 20, 1979.

Excerpt: It is, in my opinion, as absurd to praise the profit motive—i.e., economic action based on self-interest—as it is to condemn it. The human impulse to such action is, like… 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).

Reason Interview: Irving Kristol

– "Reason Interview: Irving Kristol," Reason, January 1983.

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.… More

The Political Dilemma of American Jews

– "The Political Dilemma of American Jews," Commentary, July 1984.

Excerpt: In short, while American Jews have for the most part persisted in their loyalty to the politics of American liberalism, that politics has blandly and remorselessly distanced itself… More

Reflections of a Neoconservative

– “Reflections of a Neoconservative,” Partisan Review, no. 4, 1984.

Excerpt: Even to raise that question, of course, is to define oneself as some kind of conservative, if only an incipient kind of conservative. Just what “conservative” means,… More

Jewish Voters and the “Politics of Compassion”

– "Jewish Voters and the 'Politics of Compassion'," (A reply to letters), Commentary, October 1984.

Excerpt: Now, compassion is indeed a virtue, much prized in the Jewish tradition. But it is worth recalling, as the etymology of the word itself indicates, that compassion is—a passion.… More

How Has the United States Met Its Major Challenges since 1945?

– “How Has the United States Met Its Major Challenges since 1945?” (A symposium), Commentary, November 1985.

Room for Darwin and the Bible

– “Room for Darwin and the Bible,” New York Times, September 30, 1986.

Excerpt: The current teaching of evolution in our public schools does indeed have an ideological bias against religious belief – teaching as ”fact” what is only… More

Religion and the Constitution

– "Religion and the Constitution" (An AEI symposium), December 1, 1987.

Liberalism and American Jews

– "Liberalism and American Jews," Commentary, October 1988.

Excerpt: How long this condition of “cognitive dissonance” will continue, and where it will end, is not now foreseeable. Everything will depend on how the Western democracies themselves… More

Christmas, Christians, and Jews

– “Christmas, Christians, and Jews,” National Review, December 30, 1988.

Excerpt: Once upon a time, long before the idea or phrase “sensitivity training” was born, the various religious groups in our heterogeneous society had developed a strategy for… More

A reply to “Liberalism and American Jews”

– "A reply to 'Liberalism and American Jews'" (A reply to letters), Commentary, January 1989.

Books for Christmas

– “Books for Christmas” (A symposium), American Spectator, December 1990.

Excerpt: Here are three recommendations. They are all fiction, all twentieth century, are available in paperback, but are not contemporary. I keep meeting people who do not know these… More

The Future of American Jewry

– "The Future of American Jewry," Commentary, August 1991

Excerpt: Is this picture of 21st-century America good or bad? Specifically, is it good for the Jews or bad for the Jews? The instinctive response of most Jews, committed to their secular… More

Why Religion Is Good for the Jews

– "Why Religion Is Good for the Jews," Commentary, August 1994.

Excerpt: In any event, being Jewish in a multiracial, multiethnic, and religiously pluralist society is the challenge of the hour. Or, to be more precise: the challenge is to find a way of… More

The Jewish Future I: Judaism & Liberalism

– "The Jewish Future I: Judaism & Liberalism" (A reply to letters), Commentary, November 1994.

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).

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).

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.… More

An Autobiographical Memoir

– “An Autobiographical Memoir” from Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea, (New York, NY: The Free Press, 1995).

Excerpt: Is there such a thing as a “neo” gene? I ask that question because, looking back over a lifetime of my opinions, I am struck by the fact that they all quality as “neo.” I… More

The National Prospect

– "The National Prospect" (A Symposium), Commentary, November 1995.

Excerpt: I am persuaded that a serious religious revival is under way in this country. But just how this revival will make out when it confronts the hedonism of our popular culture and the… 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… More

Is There a Jewish Agenda for America?

– "Is There a Jewish Agenda for America?" (A Symposium), Reform Judaism, Summer 1997.

Excerpt: We Jews are a bit over two percent of the American population–and this percentage is inexorably declining as a result of a low-replacement birth rate and a sky-high rate of… More

A Note on Religious Tolerance

– “A Note on Religious Tolerance,” Conservative Judaism, Summer 1998.

Excerpt: I am all in favor of Americans of a particular religion learning about other religions. On the other hand, I have little use for all these Christian-Jewish dialogues that are so… More

On the Political Stupidity of the Jews

– "On the Political Stupidity of the Jews," Azure, Autumn 1999.

Excerpt: The novelist Saul Bellow is fond of recalling a political incident from his youth. Saul, then an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, was, like so many of us in the 1930s,… More

Arguing the World

– Arguing the World: The New York Intellectuals in Their Own Words, ed. Joseph Dorman (New York: Free Press, 2000). (Transcript of TV interviews from 1998.)

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).

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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… More

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… 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 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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”… 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… 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… 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… More

Essays

A Christian Experiment

– “A Christian Experiment” (as William Ferry), Enquiry, January 1943. (A review of The Seed Beneath the Snow by Ignazio Silone.)

Excerpt: To Thomas Mann’s dictum:  “In our time the destiny of man presents its meaning in political terms,” we may add the observation, drawn from current intellectual… More

Other People’s Nerve

– “Other People's Nerve” (as William Ferry), Enquiry, May 1943.

Excerpt: The January-February and March-April issues of  Partisan Review have featured a discussion of the “New Failure of Nerve.”  It has been interesting, provocative… More

Adam and I

– "Adam and I," Commentary, November 1946.

Excerpt: I was quite unprepared for Adam, for his peculiar insensibility, his directness, his momentous inertia. He didn’t at all fit the picture that I had imagined—or that had been… More

In Hillel’s Steps

– "In Hillel's Steps," Commentary, February 1947.  (A review of In Darkest Germany by Victor Gollancz.)

Excerpt: In the eyes of the British public, Victor Gollancz is probably one of the outstanding Jewish laymen in the country. When one considers the fact that he is neither especially active… More

The Anti-Semitism of the Communists

– “The Anti-Semitism of the Communists,” The New Leader, May 24, 1947.

The Myth of the Supra-Human Jew: A Theological Stigma

– "The Myth of the Supra-Human Jew: A Theological Stigma," Commentary, September 1947.

Excerpt: It is time, I think, that a distinction is drawn between that concept of the “chosen people” which plays a unique role in Jewish theology—as an affirmation of the loving… More

Nightmare Come True

– "Nightmare Come True," Commentary, October 1947. (A review of The Other Kingdom by David Rousset, Smoke over Birkenau by Seweryna Szmaglewska, and Beyond the Last Path, by Eugene Weinstock.)

Excerpt: We wish that the men in Buchenwald had acted differently, that there had been more human cooperation and self-sacrifice. But how would we have acted? What would we have done in the… More

How Basic Is “Basic Judaism”?: A Comfortable Religion for an Uncomfortable World

– "How Basic Is 'Basic Judaism'?: A Comfortable Religion for an Uncomfortable World," Commentary, January 1948. (A review of Basic Judaism by Milton Steinberg.)

Excerpt: It is social philosophy that is his talking point, and not religion. Judaism, Rabbi Steinberg finds, has an immanent political doctrine that adds up to “political democracy, to a… More

Christian Theology and the Jews

– "Christian Theology and the Jews," Commentary, April 1948.  (Christianity and the Children of Israel, by A. Roy Eckardt.)

Excerpt: Mr. Eckardt, who is an exponent of “neo-Reformation” Protestant Orthodoxy as preached by Paul Tillich and Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr, has chosen a difficult and delicate… More

What the Nazi Autopsies Show

– "What the Nazi Autopsies Show," Commentary, September 1948.

Excerpt: The Nazis are human: that is what the psychiatrists tell us. We always knew that, though it does no harm to have it confirmed. But the Nazis are also non-human: that is what we,… More

Who’s Superstitious?

– "Who's Superstitious?" Commentary, November 1948.

Excerpt: Outside, breathing in the gasoline-scented air of Central Park, I closed my eyes and bid nostalgic farewell to a world that knew not the redeeming truths of biology. Where Jews… More

The Slaughter-Bench of History

– "The Slaughter-Bench of History," Commentary, July 1949. (A review of Faith and History by Reinhold Niebuhr and Meaning in History by Karl Lowitz.)

Excerpt: Judaism is tormented by the fact that the Messiah has not come, while the gas chambers have. Christianity is tormented by the fact that the Messiah did come, almost two thousand… More

God and the Psychoanalysts

– "God and the Psychoanalysts," Commentary, November 1949.

Excerpt: Psychoanalysis was from its very beginnings disrespectful, when not positively hostile, towards all existing religious creeds and institutions. Naturally, the religious… More

Love Affair: Psychoanalysts and Religion

– "Love Affair: Psychoanalysts and Religion," Time, November 14, 1949.

Elegy for a Lost World

– "Elegy for a Lost World," Commentary, May 1950.  (A review of The Earth Is the Lord's by Abraham Joshua Heschel.)

Excerpt: More important is the fact that Dr. Heschel occasionally succumbs to what can only be called romantic simplification. Poland was not, after all, Paradise, and Eastern Europe cannot… More

Einstein: The Passion of Pure Reason

– "Einstein: The Passion of Pure Reason," Commentary, September 1950.

Excerpt: Einstein’s new Jewishness was not the result of his discovering a hidden Jewish self. It was, on the contrary, a new means of escaping from his self. The flight to Reason from… More

Is Western Culture Anti-Semitic?

– “Is Western Culture Anti-Semitic?” The New Leader, December 25, 1950. (A review of The Gentleman and the Jew by Maurice Samuel.)

Is Jewish Humor Dead?

– "Is Jewish Humor Dead?" Commentary, November 1951.

Excerpt: Jewish humor died with its humorists when the Nazis killed off the Jews of Eastern Europe, though it seems likely that even without the intervention of Hitler this humor would not… More

The Philosophers’ Hidden Truth

– "The Philosophers' Hidden Truth," Commentary, October 1952.  (A review of Persecution and the Art of Writing by Leo Strauss.)

Excerpt: No doubt, there will be scholars who will respectfully dispute Professor Strauss on just about every point. They will find, as many already know, that he is a most formidable… More

The Simple and the True

– “The Simple and the True,” Encounter, February 1954.

“When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness”—Some Reflections on Capitalism and “the Free Society”

– "'When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness’—Some Reflections on Capitalism and 'the Free Society'," The Public Interest, Fall 1970.

Excerpt: I use the word “conservative” advisedly. Though the discontents of our civilization express themselves in the rhetoric of “liberation” and… 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… More

The Relationship Between Jews and Revolutionary Forces

– “The Relationship Between Jews and Revolutionary Forces” (Remarks at Van Leer Institute conference, Jerusalem), July 31-August 3, 1972.

Why Jews Turn Conservative

– “Why Jews Turn Conservative,” Wall Street Journal, September 14, 1972.

Republican Virtue vs. Servile Institutions

– “Republican Virtue vs. Servile Institutions” delivered at and then reprinted by the Poynter Center at Indiana University, May 1974. (Reprinted in The Alternative, February 1975.)

Excerpt: This is a serious matter. For the American democracy today seems really to have no other purpose than to create more and more Scarsdales—to convert the entire nation into a… More

Can Values Do the Job Moral Beliefs Used to Do? Namely Keep People Moral?

– “Can Values Do the Job Moral Beliefs Used to Do? Namely Keep People Moral?” Dividend, Spring 1976.

What Is a Liberal–Who Is Conservative?

– “What Is a Liberal–Who Is Conservative?” (A symposium), Commentary, September 1976.

On the Unfairness of Life

– “On the Unfairness of Life,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 1977.

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… More

The Spiritual Roots of Capitalism and Socialism

– “The Spiritual Roots of Capitalism and Socialism,” in Capitalism and Socialism: A Theological Inquiry, ed. Michael Novak (Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute, 1979).

No Cheers for the Profit Motive

– “No Cheers for the Profit Motive,” Wall Street Journal, February 20, 1979.

Excerpt: It is, in my opinion, as absurd to praise the profit motive—i.e., economic action based on self-interest—as it is to condemn it. The human impulse to such action is, like… 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).

Reason Interview: Irving Kristol

– "Reason Interview: Irving Kristol," Reason, January 1983.

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.… More

The Political Dilemma of American Jews

– "The Political Dilemma of American Jews," Commentary, July 1984.

Excerpt: In short, while American Jews have for the most part persisted in their loyalty to the politics of American liberalism, that politics has blandly and remorselessly distanced itself… More

Reflections of a Neoconservative

– “Reflections of a Neoconservative,” Partisan Review, no. 4, 1984.

Excerpt: Even to raise that question, of course, is to define oneself as some kind of conservative, if only an incipient kind of conservative. Just what “conservative” means,… More

Jewish Voters and the “Politics of Compassion”

– "Jewish Voters and the 'Politics of Compassion'," (A reply to letters), Commentary, October 1984.

Excerpt: Now, compassion is indeed a virtue, much prized in the Jewish tradition. But it is worth recalling, as the etymology of the word itself indicates, that compassion is—a passion.… More

How Has the United States Met Its Major Challenges since 1945?

– “How Has the United States Met Its Major Challenges since 1945?” (A symposium), Commentary, November 1985.

Room for Darwin and the Bible

– “Room for Darwin and the Bible,” New York Times, September 30, 1986.

Excerpt: The current teaching of evolution in our public schools does indeed have an ideological bias against religious belief – teaching as ”fact” what is only… More

Religion and the Constitution

– "Religion and the Constitution" (An AEI symposium), December 1, 1987.

Liberalism and American Jews

– "Liberalism and American Jews," Commentary, October 1988.

Excerpt: How long this condition of “cognitive dissonance” will continue, and where it will end, is not now foreseeable. Everything will depend on how the Western democracies themselves… More

Christmas, Christians, and Jews

– “Christmas, Christians, and Jews,” National Review, December 30, 1988.

Excerpt: Once upon a time, long before the idea or phrase “sensitivity training” was born, the various religious groups in our heterogeneous society had developed a strategy for… More

A reply to “Liberalism and American Jews”

– "A reply to 'Liberalism and American Jews'" (A reply to letters), Commentary, January 1989.

Books for Christmas

– “Books for Christmas” (A symposium), American Spectator, December 1990.

Excerpt: Here are three recommendations. They are all fiction, all twentieth century, are available in paperback, but are not contemporary. I keep meeting people who do not know these… More

The Future of American Jewry

– "The Future of American Jewry," Commentary, August 1991

Excerpt: Is this picture of 21st-century America good or bad? Specifically, is it good for the Jews or bad for the Jews? The instinctive response of most Jews, committed to their secular… More

Why Religion Is Good for the Jews

– "Why Religion Is Good for the Jews," Commentary, August 1994.

Excerpt: In any event, being Jewish in a multiracial, multiethnic, and religiously pluralist society is the challenge of the hour. Or, to be more precise: the challenge is to find a way of… More

The Jewish Future I: Judaism & Liberalism

– "The Jewish Future I: Judaism & Liberalism" (A reply to letters), Commentary, November 1994.

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).

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).

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.… More

An Autobiographical Memoir

– “An Autobiographical Memoir” from Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea, (New York, NY: The Free Press, 1995).

Excerpt: Is there such a thing as a “neo” gene? I ask that question because, looking back over a lifetime of my opinions, I am struck by the fact that they all quality as “neo.” I… More

The National Prospect

– "The National Prospect" (A Symposium), Commentary, November 1995.

Excerpt: I am persuaded that a serious religious revival is under way in this country. But just how this revival will make out when it confronts the hedonism of our popular culture and the… 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… More

Is There a Jewish Agenda for America?

– "Is There a Jewish Agenda for America?" (A Symposium), Reform Judaism, Summer 1997.

Excerpt: We Jews are a bit over two percent of the American population–and this percentage is inexorably declining as a result of a low-replacement birth rate and a sky-high rate of… More

A Note on Religious Tolerance

– “A Note on Religious Tolerance,” Conservative Judaism, Summer 1998.

Excerpt: I am all in favor of Americans of a particular religion learning about other religions. On the other hand, I have little use for all these Christian-Jewish dialogues that are so… More

On the Political Stupidity of the Jews

– "On the Political Stupidity of the Jews," Azure, Autumn 1999.

Excerpt: The novelist Saul Bellow is fond of recalling a political incident from his youth. Saul, then an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, was, like so many of us in the 1930s,… More

Arguing the World

– Arguing the World: The New York Intellectuals in Their Own Words, ed. Joseph Dorman (New York: Free Press, 2000). (Transcript of TV interviews from 1998.)

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).

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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… More

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… 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 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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”… 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… 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… 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… More

Commentary

A Christian Experiment

– “A Christian Experiment” (as William Ferry), Enquiry, January 1943. (A review of The Seed Beneath the Snow by Ignazio Silone.)

Excerpt: To Thomas Mann’s dictum:  “In our time the destiny of man presents its meaning in political terms,” we may add the observation, drawn from current intellectual… More

Other People’s Nerve

– “Other People's Nerve” (as William Ferry), Enquiry, May 1943.

Excerpt: The January-February and March-April issues of  Partisan Review have featured a discussion of the “New Failure of Nerve.”  It has been interesting, provocative… More

Adam and I

– "Adam and I," Commentary, November 1946.

Excerpt: I was quite unprepared for Adam, for his peculiar insensibility, his directness, his momentous inertia. He didn’t at all fit the picture that I had imagined—or that had been… More

In Hillel’s Steps

– "In Hillel's Steps," Commentary, February 1947.  (A review of In Darkest Germany by Victor Gollancz.)

Excerpt: In the eyes of the British public, Victor Gollancz is probably one of the outstanding Jewish laymen in the country. When one considers the fact that he is neither especially active… More

The Anti-Semitism of the Communists

– “The Anti-Semitism of the Communists,” The New Leader, May 24, 1947.

The Myth of the Supra-Human Jew: A Theological Stigma

– "The Myth of the Supra-Human Jew: A Theological Stigma," Commentary, September 1947.

Excerpt: It is time, I think, that a distinction is drawn between that concept of the “chosen people” which plays a unique role in Jewish theology—as an affirmation of the loving… More

Nightmare Come True

– "Nightmare Come True," Commentary, October 1947. (A review of The Other Kingdom by David Rousset, Smoke over Birkenau by Seweryna Szmaglewska, and Beyond the Last Path, by Eugene Weinstock.)

Excerpt: We wish that the men in Buchenwald had acted differently, that there had been more human cooperation and self-sacrifice. But how would we have acted? What would we have done in the… More

How Basic Is “Basic Judaism”?: A Comfortable Religion for an Uncomfortable World

– "How Basic Is 'Basic Judaism'?: A Comfortable Religion for an Uncomfortable World," Commentary, January 1948. (A review of Basic Judaism by Milton Steinberg.)

Excerpt: It is social philosophy that is his talking point, and not religion. Judaism, Rabbi Steinberg finds, has an immanent political doctrine that adds up to “political democracy, to a… More

Christian Theology and the Jews

– "Christian Theology and the Jews," Commentary, April 1948.  (Christianity and the Children of Israel, by A. Roy Eckardt.)

Excerpt: Mr. Eckardt, who is an exponent of “neo-Reformation” Protestant Orthodoxy as preached by Paul Tillich and Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr, has chosen a difficult and delicate… More

What the Nazi Autopsies Show

– "What the Nazi Autopsies Show," Commentary, September 1948.

Excerpt: The Nazis are human: that is what the psychiatrists tell us. We always knew that, though it does no harm to have it confirmed. But the Nazis are also non-human: that is what we,… More

Who’s Superstitious?

– "Who's Superstitious?" Commentary, November 1948.

Excerpt: Outside, breathing in the gasoline-scented air of Central Park, I closed my eyes and bid nostalgic farewell to a world that knew not the redeeming truths of biology. Where Jews… More

The Slaughter-Bench of History

– "The Slaughter-Bench of History," Commentary, July 1949. (A review of Faith and History by Reinhold Niebuhr and Meaning in History by Karl Lowitz.)

Excerpt: Judaism is tormented by the fact that the Messiah has not come, while the gas chambers have. Christianity is tormented by the fact that the Messiah did come, almost two thousand… More

God and the Psychoanalysts

– "God and the Psychoanalysts," Commentary, November 1949.

Excerpt: Psychoanalysis was from its very beginnings disrespectful, when not positively hostile, towards all existing religious creeds and institutions. Naturally, the religious… More

Love Affair: Psychoanalysts and Religion

– "Love Affair: Psychoanalysts and Religion," Time, November 14, 1949.

Elegy for a Lost World

– "Elegy for a Lost World," Commentary, May 1950.  (A review of The Earth Is the Lord's by Abraham Joshua Heschel.)

Excerpt: More important is the fact that Dr. Heschel occasionally succumbs to what can only be called romantic simplification. Poland was not, after all, Paradise, and Eastern Europe cannot… More

Einstein: The Passion of Pure Reason

– "Einstein: The Passion of Pure Reason," Commentary, September 1950.

Excerpt: Einstein’s new Jewishness was not the result of his discovering a hidden Jewish self. It was, on the contrary, a new means of escaping from his self. The flight to Reason from… More

Is Western Culture Anti-Semitic?

– “Is Western Culture Anti-Semitic?” The New Leader, December 25, 1950. (A review of The Gentleman and the Jew by Maurice Samuel.)

Is Jewish Humor Dead?

– "Is Jewish Humor Dead?" Commentary, November 1951.

Excerpt: Jewish humor died with its humorists when the Nazis killed off the Jews of Eastern Europe, though it seems likely that even without the intervention of Hitler this humor would not… More

The Philosophers’ Hidden Truth

– "The Philosophers' Hidden Truth," Commentary, October 1952.  (A review of Persecution and the Art of Writing by Leo Strauss.)

Excerpt: No doubt, there will be scholars who will respectfully dispute Professor Strauss on just about every point. They will find, as many already know, that he is a most formidable… More

The Simple and the True

– “The Simple and the True,” Encounter, February 1954.

“When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness”—Some Reflections on Capitalism and “the Free Society”

– "'When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness’—Some Reflections on Capitalism and 'the Free Society'," The Public Interest, Fall 1970.

Excerpt: I use the word “conservative” advisedly. Though the discontents of our civilization express themselves in the rhetoric of “liberation” and… 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… More

The Relationship Between Jews and Revolutionary Forces

– “The Relationship Between Jews and Revolutionary Forces” (Remarks at Van Leer Institute conference, Jerusalem), July 31-August 3, 1972.

Why Jews Turn Conservative

– “Why Jews Turn Conservative,” Wall Street Journal, September 14, 1972.

Republican Virtue vs. Servile Institutions

– “Republican Virtue vs. Servile Institutions” delivered at and then reprinted by the Poynter Center at Indiana University, May 1974. (Reprinted in The Alternative, February 1975.)

Excerpt: This is a serious matter. For the American democracy today seems really to have no other purpose than to create more and more Scarsdales—to convert the entire nation into a… More

Can Values Do the Job Moral Beliefs Used to Do? Namely Keep People Moral?

– “Can Values Do the Job Moral Beliefs Used to Do? Namely Keep People Moral?” Dividend, Spring 1976.

What Is a Liberal–Who Is Conservative?

– “What Is a Liberal–Who Is Conservative?” (A symposium), Commentary, September 1976.

On the Unfairness of Life

– “On the Unfairness of Life,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 1977.

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… More

The Spiritual Roots of Capitalism and Socialism

– “The Spiritual Roots of Capitalism and Socialism,” in Capitalism and Socialism: A Theological Inquiry, ed. Michael Novak (Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute, 1979).

No Cheers for the Profit Motive

– “No Cheers for the Profit Motive,” Wall Street Journal, February 20, 1979.

Excerpt: It is, in my opinion, as absurd to praise the profit motive—i.e., economic action based on self-interest—as it is to condemn it. The human impulse to such action is, like… 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).

Reason Interview: Irving Kristol

– "Reason Interview: Irving Kristol," Reason, January 1983.

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.… More

The Political Dilemma of American Jews

– "The Political Dilemma of American Jews," Commentary, July 1984.

Excerpt: In short, while American Jews have for the most part persisted in their loyalty to the politics of American liberalism, that politics has blandly and remorselessly distanced itself… More

Reflections of a Neoconservative

– “Reflections of a Neoconservative,” Partisan Review, no. 4, 1984.

Excerpt: Even to raise that question, of course, is to define oneself as some kind of conservative, if only an incipient kind of conservative. Just what “conservative” means,… More

Jewish Voters and the “Politics of Compassion”

– "Jewish Voters and the 'Politics of Compassion'," (A reply to letters), Commentary, October 1984.

Excerpt: Now, compassion is indeed a virtue, much prized in the Jewish tradition. But it is worth recalling, as the etymology of the word itself indicates, that compassion is—a passion.… More

How Has the United States Met Its Major Challenges since 1945?

– “How Has the United States Met Its Major Challenges since 1945?” (A symposium), Commentary, November 1985.

Room for Darwin and the Bible

– “Room for Darwin and the Bible,” New York Times, September 30, 1986.

Excerpt: The current teaching of evolution in our public schools does indeed have an ideological bias against religious belief – teaching as ”fact” what is only… More

Religion and the Constitution

– "Religion and the Constitution" (An AEI symposium), December 1, 1987.

Liberalism and American Jews

– "Liberalism and American Jews," Commentary, October 1988.

Excerpt: How long this condition of “cognitive dissonance” will continue, and where it will end, is not now foreseeable. Everything will depend on how the Western democracies themselves… More

Christmas, Christians, and Jews

– “Christmas, Christians, and Jews,” National Review, December 30, 1988.

Excerpt: Once upon a time, long before the idea or phrase “sensitivity training” was born, the various religious groups in our heterogeneous society had developed a strategy for… More

A reply to “Liberalism and American Jews”

– "A reply to 'Liberalism and American Jews'" (A reply to letters), Commentary, January 1989.

Books for Christmas

– “Books for Christmas” (A symposium), American Spectator, December 1990.

Excerpt: Here are three recommendations. They are all fiction, all twentieth century, are available in paperback, but are not contemporary. I keep meeting people who do not know these… More

The Future of American Jewry

– "The Future of American Jewry," Commentary, August 1991

Excerpt: Is this picture of 21st-century America good or bad? Specifically, is it good for the Jews or bad for the Jews? The instinctive response of most Jews, committed to their secular… More

Why Religion Is Good for the Jews

– "Why Religion Is Good for the Jews," Commentary, August 1994.

Excerpt: In any event, being Jewish in a multiracial, multiethnic, and religiously pluralist society is the challenge of the hour. Or, to be more precise: the challenge is to find a way of… More

The Jewish Future I: Judaism & Liberalism

– "The Jewish Future I: Judaism & Liberalism" (A reply to letters), Commentary, November 1994.

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).

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).

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.… More

An Autobiographical Memoir

– “An Autobiographical Memoir” from Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea, (New York, NY: The Free Press, 1995).

Excerpt: Is there such a thing as a “neo” gene? I ask that question because, looking back over a lifetime of my opinions, I am struck by the fact that they all quality as “neo.” I… More

The National Prospect

– "The National Prospect" (A Symposium), Commentary, November 1995.

Excerpt: I am persuaded that a serious religious revival is under way in this country. But just how this revival will make out when it confronts the hedonism of our popular culture and the… 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… More

Is There a Jewish Agenda for America?

– "Is There a Jewish Agenda for America?" (A Symposium), Reform Judaism, Summer 1997.

Excerpt: We Jews are a bit over two percent of the American population–and this percentage is inexorably declining as a result of a low-replacement birth rate and a sky-high rate of… More

A Note on Religious Tolerance

– “A Note on Religious Tolerance,” Conservative Judaism, Summer 1998.

Excerpt: I am all in favor of Americans of a particular religion learning about other religions. On the other hand, I have little use for all these Christian-Jewish dialogues that are so… More

On the Political Stupidity of the Jews

– "On the Political Stupidity of the Jews," Azure, Autumn 1999.

Excerpt: The novelist Saul Bellow is fond of recalling a political incident from his youth. Saul, then an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, was, like so many of us in the 1930s,… More

Arguing the World

– Arguing the World: The New York Intellectuals in Their Own Words, ed. Joseph Dorman (New York: Free Press, 2000). (Transcript of TV interviews from 1998.)

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).

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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… More

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… 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 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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”… 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… 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… 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… More

Multimedia

A Christian Experiment

– “A Christian Experiment” (as William Ferry), Enquiry, January 1943. (A review of The Seed Beneath the Snow by Ignazio Silone.)

Excerpt: To Thomas Mann’s dictum:  “In our time the destiny of man presents its meaning in political terms,” we may add the observation, drawn from current intellectual… More

Other People’s Nerve

– “Other People's Nerve” (as William Ferry), Enquiry, May 1943.

Excerpt: The January-February and March-April issues of  Partisan Review have featured a discussion of the “New Failure of Nerve.”  It has been interesting, provocative… More

Adam and I

– "Adam and I," Commentary, November 1946.

Excerpt: I was quite unprepared for Adam, for his peculiar insensibility, his directness, his momentous inertia. He didn’t at all fit the picture that I had imagined—or that had been… More

In Hillel’s Steps

– "In Hillel's Steps," Commentary, February 1947.  (A review of In Darkest Germany by Victor Gollancz.)

Excerpt: In the eyes of the British public, Victor Gollancz is probably one of the outstanding Jewish laymen in the country. When one considers the fact that he is neither especially active… More

The Anti-Semitism of the Communists

– “The Anti-Semitism of the Communists,” The New Leader, May 24, 1947.

The Myth of the Supra-Human Jew: A Theological Stigma

– "The Myth of the Supra-Human Jew: A Theological Stigma," Commentary, September 1947.

Excerpt: It is time, I think, that a distinction is drawn between that concept of the “chosen people” which plays a unique role in Jewish theology—as an affirmation of the loving… More

Nightmare Come True

– "Nightmare Come True," Commentary, October 1947. (A review of The Other Kingdom by David Rousset, Smoke over Birkenau by Seweryna Szmaglewska, and Beyond the Last Path, by Eugene Weinstock.)

Excerpt: We wish that the men in Buchenwald had acted differently, that there had been more human cooperation and self-sacrifice. But how would we have acted? What would we have done in the… More

How Basic Is “Basic Judaism”?: A Comfortable Religion for an Uncomfortable World

– "How Basic Is 'Basic Judaism'?: A Comfortable Religion for an Uncomfortable World," Commentary, January 1948. (A review of Basic Judaism by Milton Steinberg.)

Excerpt: It is social philosophy that is his talking point, and not religion. Judaism, Rabbi Steinberg finds, has an immanent political doctrine that adds up to “political democracy, to a… More

Christian Theology and the Jews

– "Christian Theology and the Jews," Commentary, April 1948.  (Christianity and the Children of Israel, by A. Roy Eckardt.)

Excerpt: Mr. Eckardt, who is an exponent of “neo-Reformation” Protestant Orthodoxy as preached by Paul Tillich and Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr, has chosen a difficult and delicate… More

What the Nazi Autopsies Show

– "What the Nazi Autopsies Show," Commentary, September 1948.

Excerpt: The Nazis are human: that is what the psychiatrists tell us. We always knew that, though it does no harm to have it confirmed. But the Nazis are also non-human: that is what we,… More

Who’s Superstitious?

– "Who's Superstitious?" Commentary, November 1948.

Excerpt: Outside, breathing in the gasoline-scented air of Central Park, I closed my eyes and bid nostalgic farewell to a world that knew not the redeeming truths of biology. Where Jews… More

The Slaughter-Bench of History

– "The Slaughter-Bench of History," Commentary, July 1949. (A review of Faith and History by Reinhold Niebuhr and Meaning in History by Karl Lowitz.)

Excerpt: Judaism is tormented by the fact that the Messiah has not come, while the gas chambers have. Christianity is tormented by the fact that the Messiah did come, almost two thousand… More

God and the Psychoanalysts

– "God and the Psychoanalysts," Commentary, November 1949.

Excerpt: Psychoanalysis was from its very beginnings disrespectful, when not positively hostile, towards all existing religious creeds and institutions. Naturally, the religious… More

Love Affair: Psychoanalysts and Religion

– "Love Affair: Psychoanalysts and Religion," Time, November 14, 1949.

Elegy for a Lost World

– "Elegy for a Lost World," Commentary, May 1950.  (A review of The Earth Is the Lord's by Abraham Joshua Heschel.)

Excerpt: More important is the fact that Dr. Heschel occasionally succumbs to what can only be called romantic simplification. Poland was not, after all, Paradise, and Eastern Europe cannot… More

Einstein: The Passion of Pure Reason

– "Einstein: The Passion of Pure Reason," Commentary, September 1950.

Excerpt: Einstein’s new Jewishness was not the result of his discovering a hidden Jewish self. It was, on the contrary, a new means of escaping from his self. The flight to Reason from… More

Is Western Culture Anti-Semitic?

– “Is Western Culture Anti-Semitic?” The New Leader, December 25, 1950. (A review of The Gentleman and the Jew by Maurice Samuel.)

Is Jewish Humor Dead?

– "Is Jewish Humor Dead?" Commentary, November 1951.

Excerpt: Jewish humor died with its humorists when the Nazis killed off the Jews of Eastern Europe, though it seems likely that even without the intervention of Hitler this humor would not… More

The Philosophers’ Hidden Truth

– "The Philosophers' Hidden Truth," Commentary, October 1952.  (A review of Persecution and the Art of Writing by Leo Strauss.)

Excerpt: No doubt, there will be scholars who will respectfully dispute Professor Strauss on just about every point. They will find, as many already know, that he is a most formidable… More

The Simple and the True

– “The Simple and the True,” Encounter, February 1954.

“When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness”—Some Reflections on Capitalism and “the Free Society”

– "'When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness’—Some Reflections on Capitalism and 'the Free Society'," The Public Interest, Fall 1970.

Excerpt: I use the word “conservative” advisedly. Though the discontents of our civilization express themselves in the rhetoric of “liberation” and… 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… More

The Relationship Between Jews and Revolutionary Forces

– “The Relationship Between Jews and Revolutionary Forces” (Remarks at Van Leer Institute conference, Jerusalem), July 31-August 3, 1972.

Why Jews Turn Conservative

– “Why Jews Turn Conservative,” Wall Street Journal, September 14, 1972.

Republican Virtue vs. Servile Institutions

– “Republican Virtue vs. Servile Institutions” delivered at and then reprinted by the Poynter Center at Indiana University, May 1974. (Reprinted in The Alternative, February 1975.)

Excerpt: This is a serious matter. For the American democracy today seems really to have no other purpose than to create more and more Scarsdales—to convert the entire nation into a… More

Can Values Do the Job Moral Beliefs Used to Do? Namely Keep People Moral?

– “Can Values Do the Job Moral Beliefs Used to Do? Namely Keep People Moral?” Dividend, Spring 1976.

What Is a Liberal–Who Is Conservative?

– “What Is a Liberal–Who Is Conservative?” (A symposium), Commentary, September 1976.

On the Unfairness of Life

– “On the Unfairness of Life,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 1977.

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… More

The Spiritual Roots of Capitalism and Socialism

– “The Spiritual Roots of Capitalism and Socialism,” in Capitalism and Socialism: A Theological Inquiry, ed. Michael Novak (Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute, 1979).

No Cheers for the Profit Motive

– “No Cheers for the Profit Motive,” Wall Street Journal, February 20, 1979.

Excerpt: It is, in my opinion, as absurd to praise the profit motive—i.e., economic action based on self-interest—as it is to condemn it. The human impulse to such action is, like… 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).

Reason Interview: Irving Kristol

– "Reason Interview: Irving Kristol," Reason, January 1983.

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.… More

The Political Dilemma of American Jews

– "The Political Dilemma of American Jews," Commentary, July 1984.

Excerpt: In short, while American Jews have for the most part persisted in their loyalty to the politics of American liberalism, that politics has blandly and remorselessly distanced itself… More

Reflections of a Neoconservative

– “Reflections of a Neoconservative,” Partisan Review, no. 4, 1984.

Excerpt: Even to raise that question, of course, is to define oneself as some kind of conservative, if only an incipient kind of conservative. Just what “conservative” means,… More

Jewish Voters and the “Politics of Compassion”

– "Jewish Voters and the 'Politics of Compassion'," (A reply to letters), Commentary, October 1984.

Excerpt: Now, compassion is indeed a virtue, much prized in the Jewish tradition. But it is worth recalling, as the etymology of the word itself indicates, that compassion is—a passion.… More

How Has the United States Met Its Major Challenges since 1945?

– “How Has the United States Met Its Major Challenges since 1945?” (A symposium), Commentary, November 1985.

Room for Darwin and the Bible

– “Room for Darwin and the Bible,” New York Times, September 30, 1986.

Excerpt: The current teaching of evolution in our public schools does indeed have an ideological bias against religious belief – teaching as ”fact” what is only… More

Religion and the Constitution

– "Religion and the Constitution" (An AEI symposium), December 1, 1987.

Liberalism and American Jews

– "Liberalism and American Jews," Commentary, October 1988.

Excerpt: How long this condition of “cognitive dissonance” will continue, and where it will end, is not now foreseeable. Everything will depend on how the Western democracies themselves… More

Christmas, Christians, and Jews

– “Christmas, Christians, and Jews,” National Review, December 30, 1988.

Excerpt: Once upon a time, long before the idea or phrase “sensitivity training” was born, the various religious groups in our heterogeneous society had developed a strategy for… More

A reply to “Liberalism and American Jews”

– "A reply to 'Liberalism and American Jews'" (A reply to letters), Commentary, January 1989.

Books for Christmas

– “Books for Christmas” (A symposium), American Spectator, December 1990.

Excerpt: Here are three recommendations. They are all fiction, all twentieth century, are available in paperback, but are not contemporary. I keep meeting people who do not know these… More

The Future of American Jewry

– "The Future of American Jewry," Commentary, August 1991

Excerpt: Is this picture of 21st-century America good or bad? Specifically, is it good for the Jews or bad for the Jews? The instinctive response of most Jews, committed to their secular… More

Why Religion Is Good for the Jews

– "Why Religion Is Good for the Jews," Commentary, August 1994.

Excerpt: In any event, being Jewish in a multiracial, multiethnic, and religiously pluralist society is the challenge of the hour. Or, to be more precise: the challenge is to find a way of… More

The Jewish Future I: Judaism & Liberalism

– "The Jewish Future I: Judaism & Liberalism" (A reply to letters), Commentary, November 1994.

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).

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).

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.… More

An Autobiographical Memoir

– “An Autobiographical Memoir” from Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea, (New York, NY: The Free Press, 1995).

Excerpt: Is there such a thing as a “neo” gene? I ask that question because, looking back over a lifetime of my opinions, I am struck by the fact that they all quality as “neo.” I… More

The National Prospect

– "The National Prospect" (A Symposium), Commentary, November 1995.

Excerpt: I am persuaded that a serious religious revival is under way in this country. But just how this revival will make out when it confronts the hedonism of our popular culture and the… 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… More

Is There a Jewish Agenda for America?

– "Is There a Jewish Agenda for America?" (A Symposium), Reform Judaism, Summer 1997.

Excerpt: We Jews are a bit over two percent of the American population–and this percentage is inexorably declining as a result of a low-replacement birth rate and a sky-high rate of… More

A Note on Religious Tolerance

– “A Note on Religious Tolerance,” Conservative Judaism, Summer 1998.

Excerpt: I am all in favor of Americans of a particular religion learning about other religions. On the other hand, I have little use for all these Christian-Jewish dialogues that are so… More

On the Political Stupidity of the Jews

– "On the Political Stupidity of the Jews," Azure, Autumn 1999.

Excerpt: The novelist Saul Bellow is fond of recalling a political incident from his youth. Saul, then an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, was, like so many of us in the 1930s,… More

Arguing the World

– Arguing the World: The New York Intellectuals in Their Own Words, ed. Joseph Dorman (New York: Free Press, 2000). (Transcript of TV interviews from 1998.)

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).

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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… More

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… 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 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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”… 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… 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… 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… More

Teaching

A Christian Experiment

– “A Christian Experiment” (as William Ferry), Enquiry, January 1943. (A review of The Seed Beneath the Snow by Ignazio Silone.)

Excerpt: To Thomas Mann’s dictum:  “In our time the destiny of man presents its meaning in political terms,” we may add the observation, drawn from current intellectual… More

Other People’s Nerve

– “Other People's Nerve” (as William Ferry), Enquiry, May 1943.

Excerpt: The January-February and March-April issues of  Partisan Review have featured a discussion of the “New Failure of Nerve.”  It has been interesting, provocative… More

Adam and I

– "Adam and I," Commentary, November 1946.

Excerpt: I was quite unprepared for Adam, for his peculiar insensibility, his directness, his momentous inertia. He didn’t at all fit the picture that I had imagined—or that had been… More

In Hillel’s Steps

– "In Hillel's Steps," Commentary, February 1947.  (A review of In Darkest Germany by Victor Gollancz.)

Excerpt: In the eyes of the British public, Victor Gollancz is probably one of the outstanding Jewish laymen in the country. When one considers the fact that he is neither especially active… More

The Anti-Semitism of the Communists

– “The Anti-Semitism of the Communists,” The New Leader, May 24, 1947.

The Myth of the Supra-Human Jew: A Theological Stigma

– "The Myth of the Supra-Human Jew: A Theological Stigma," Commentary, September 1947.

Excerpt: It is time, I think, that a distinction is drawn between that concept of the “chosen people” which plays a unique role in Jewish theology—as an affirmation of the loving… More

Nightmare Come True

– "Nightmare Come True," Commentary, October 1947. (A review of The Other Kingdom by David Rousset, Smoke over Birkenau by Seweryna Szmaglewska, and Beyond the Last Path, by Eugene Weinstock.)

Excerpt: We wish that the men in Buchenwald had acted differently, that there had been more human cooperation and self-sacrifice. But how would we have acted? What would we have done in the… More

How Basic Is “Basic Judaism”?: A Comfortable Religion for an Uncomfortable World

– "How Basic Is 'Basic Judaism'?: A Comfortable Religion for an Uncomfortable World," Commentary, January 1948. (A review of Basic Judaism by Milton Steinberg.)

Excerpt: It is social philosophy that is his talking point, and not religion. Judaism, Rabbi Steinberg finds, has an immanent political doctrine that adds up to “political democracy, to a… More

Christian Theology and the Jews

– "Christian Theology and the Jews," Commentary, April 1948.  (Christianity and the Children of Israel, by A. Roy Eckardt.)

Excerpt: Mr. Eckardt, who is an exponent of “neo-Reformation” Protestant Orthodoxy as preached by Paul Tillich and Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr, has chosen a difficult and delicate… More

What the Nazi Autopsies Show

– "What the Nazi Autopsies Show," Commentary, September 1948.

Excerpt: The Nazis are human: that is what the psychiatrists tell us. We always knew that, though it does no harm to have it confirmed. But the Nazis are also non-human: that is what we,… More

Who’s Superstitious?

– "Who's Superstitious?" Commentary, November 1948.

Excerpt: Outside, breathing in the gasoline-scented air of Central Park, I closed my eyes and bid nostalgic farewell to a world that knew not the redeeming truths of biology. Where Jews… More

The Slaughter-Bench of History

– "The Slaughter-Bench of History," Commentary, July 1949. (A review of Faith and History by Reinhold Niebuhr and Meaning in History by Karl Lowitz.)

Excerpt: Judaism is tormented by the fact that the Messiah has not come, while the gas chambers have. Christianity is tormented by the fact that the Messiah did come, almost two thousand… More

God and the Psychoanalysts

– "God and the Psychoanalysts," Commentary, November 1949.

Excerpt: Psychoanalysis was from its very beginnings disrespectful, when not positively hostile, towards all existing religious creeds and institutions. Naturally, the religious… More

Love Affair: Psychoanalysts and Religion

– "Love Affair: Psychoanalysts and Religion," Time, November 14, 1949.

Elegy for a Lost World

– "Elegy for a Lost World," Commentary, May 1950.  (A review of The Earth Is the Lord's by Abraham Joshua Heschel.)

Excerpt: More important is the fact that Dr. Heschel occasionally succumbs to what can only be called romantic simplification. Poland was not, after all, Paradise, and Eastern Europe cannot… More

Einstein: The Passion of Pure Reason

– "Einstein: The Passion of Pure Reason," Commentary, September 1950.

Excerpt: Einstein’s new Jewishness was not the result of his discovering a hidden Jewish self. It was, on the contrary, a new means of escaping from his self. The flight to Reason from… More

Is Western Culture Anti-Semitic?

– “Is Western Culture Anti-Semitic?” The New Leader, December 25, 1950. (A review of The Gentleman and the Jew by Maurice Samuel.)

Is Jewish Humor Dead?

– "Is Jewish Humor Dead?" Commentary, November 1951.

Excerpt: Jewish humor died with its humorists when the Nazis killed off the Jews of Eastern Europe, though it seems likely that even without the intervention of Hitler this humor would not… More

The Philosophers’ Hidden Truth

– "The Philosophers' Hidden Truth," Commentary, October 1952.  (A review of Persecution and the Art of Writing by Leo Strauss.)

Excerpt: No doubt, there will be scholars who will respectfully dispute Professor Strauss on just about every point. They will find, as many already know, that he is a most formidable… More

The Simple and the True

– “The Simple and the True,” Encounter, February 1954.

“When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness”—Some Reflections on Capitalism and “the Free Society”

– "'When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness’—Some Reflections on Capitalism and 'the Free Society'," The Public Interest, Fall 1970.

Excerpt: I use the word “conservative” advisedly. Though the discontents of our civilization express themselves in the rhetoric of “liberation” and… 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… More

The Relationship Between Jews and Revolutionary Forces

– “The Relationship Between Jews and Revolutionary Forces” (Remarks at Van Leer Institute conference, Jerusalem), July 31-August 3, 1972.

Why Jews Turn Conservative

– “Why Jews Turn Conservative,” Wall Street Journal, September 14, 1972.

Republican Virtue vs. Servile Institutions

– “Republican Virtue vs. Servile Institutions” delivered at and then reprinted by the Poynter Center at Indiana University, May 1974. (Reprinted in The Alternative, February 1975.)

Excerpt: This is a serious matter. For the American democracy today seems really to have no other purpose than to create more and more Scarsdales—to convert the entire nation into a… More

Can Values Do the Job Moral Beliefs Used to Do? Namely Keep People Moral?

– “Can Values Do the Job Moral Beliefs Used to Do? Namely Keep People Moral?” Dividend, Spring 1976.

What Is a Liberal–Who Is Conservative?

– “What Is a Liberal–Who Is Conservative?” (A symposium), Commentary, September 1976.

On the Unfairness of Life

– “On the Unfairness of Life,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 1977.

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… More

The Spiritual Roots of Capitalism and Socialism

– “The Spiritual Roots of Capitalism and Socialism,” in Capitalism and Socialism: A Theological Inquiry, ed. Michael Novak (Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute, 1979).

No Cheers for the Profit Motive

– “No Cheers for the Profit Motive,” Wall Street Journal, February 20, 1979.

Excerpt: It is, in my opinion, as absurd to praise the profit motive—i.e., economic action based on self-interest—as it is to condemn it. The human impulse to such action is, like… 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).

Reason Interview: Irving Kristol

– "Reason Interview: Irving Kristol," Reason, January 1983.

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.… More

The Political Dilemma of American Jews

– "The Political Dilemma of American Jews," Commentary, July 1984.

Excerpt: In short, while American Jews have for the most part persisted in their loyalty to the politics of American liberalism, that politics has blandly and remorselessly distanced itself… More

Reflections of a Neoconservative

– “Reflections of a Neoconservative,” Partisan Review, no. 4, 1984.

Excerpt: Even to raise that question, of course, is to define oneself as some kind of conservative, if only an incipient kind of conservative. Just what “conservative” means,… More

Jewish Voters and the “Politics of Compassion”

– "Jewish Voters and the 'Politics of Compassion'," (A reply to letters), Commentary, October 1984.

Excerpt: Now, compassion is indeed a virtue, much prized in the Jewish tradition. But it is worth recalling, as the etymology of the word itself indicates, that compassion is—a passion.… More

How Has the United States Met Its Major Challenges since 1945?

– “How Has the United States Met Its Major Challenges since 1945?” (A symposium), Commentary, November 1985.

Room for Darwin and the Bible

– “Room for Darwin and the Bible,” New York Times, September 30, 1986.

Excerpt: The current teaching of evolution in our public schools does indeed have an ideological bias against religious belief – teaching as ”fact” what is only… More

Religion and the Constitution

– "Religion and the Constitution" (An AEI symposium), December 1, 1987.

Liberalism and American Jews

– "Liberalism and American Jews," Commentary, October 1988.

Excerpt: How long this condition of “cognitive dissonance” will continue, and where it will end, is not now foreseeable. Everything will depend on how the Western democracies themselves… More

Christmas, Christians, and Jews

– “Christmas, Christians, and Jews,” National Review, December 30, 1988.

Excerpt: Once upon a time, long before the idea or phrase “sensitivity training” was born, the various religious groups in our heterogeneous society had developed a strategy for… More

A reply to “Liberalism and American Jews”

– "A reply to 'Liberalism and American Jews'" (A reply to letters), Commentary, January 1989.

Books for Christmas

– “Books for Christmas” (A symposium), American Spectator, December 1990.

Excerpt: Here are three recommendations. They are all fiction, all twentieth century, are available in paperback, but are not contemporary. I keep meeting people who do not know these… More

The Future of American Jewry

– "The Future of American Jewry," Commentary, August 1991

Excerpt: Is this picture of 21st-century America good or bad? Specifically, is it good for the Jews or bad for the Jews? The instinctive response of most Jews, committed to their secular… More

Why Religion Is Good for the Jews

– "Why Religion Is Good for the Jews," Commentary, August 1994.

Excerpt: In any event, being Jewish in a multiracial, multiethnic, and religiously pluralist society is the challenge of the hour. Or, to be more precise: the challenge is to find a way of… More

The Jewish Future I: Judaism & Liberalism

– "The Jewish Future I: Judaism & Liberalism" (A reply to letters), Commentary, November 1994.

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).

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).

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.… More

An Autobiographical Memoir

– “An Autobiographical Memoir” from Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea, (New York, NY: The Free Press, 1995).

Excerpt: Is there such a thing as a “neo” gene? I ask that question because, looking back over a lifetime of my opinions, I am struck by the fact that they all quality as “neo.” I… More

The National Prospect

– "The National Prospect" (A Symposium), Commentary, November 1995.

Excerpt: I am persuaded that a serious religious revival is under way in this country. But just how this revival will make out when it confronts the hedonism of our popular culture and the… 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… More

Is There a Jewish Agenda for America?

– "Is There a Jewish Agenda for America?" (A Symposium), Reform Judaism, Summer 1997.

Excerpt: We Jews are a bit over two percent of the American population–and this percentage is inexorably declining as a result of a low-replacement birth rate and a sky-high rate of… More

A Note on Religious Tolerance

– “A Note on Religious Tolerance,” Conservative Judaism, Summer 1998.

Excerpt: I am all in favor of Americans of a particular religion learning about other religions. On the other hand, I have little use for all these Christian-Jewish dialogues that are so… More

On the Political Stupidity of the Jews

– "On the Political Stupidity of the Jews," Azure, Autumn 1999.

Excerpt: The novelist Saul Bellow is fond of recalling a political incident from his youth. Saul, then an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, was, like so many of us in the 1930s,… More

Arguing the World

– Arguing the World: The New York Intellectuals in Their Own Words, ed. Joseph Dorman (New York: Free Press, 2000). (Transcript of TV interviews from 1998.)

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).

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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… More

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… 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 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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”… 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… 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… 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… More