About Russell Kirk

Russell Kirk (1918-1994) was the author of some thirty-two books, hundreds of periodical essays, and many short stories. Both Time and Newsweek have described him as one of America’s leading thinkers, and The New York Times acknowledged the scale of his influence when in 1998 it wrote that Dr. Kirk’s 1953 book The Conservative Mind “gave American conservatives an identity and a genealogy and catalyzed the postwar movement.” Dr. Kirk's other books include The Roots of American Order, Prospects for Conservatives, Edmund Burke: A Genius Reconsidered, The Sword of Imagination, and Enemies of the Permanent Things.

The Rocks Upon Which Our Civilization Is Built

By |2018-10-16T20:26:04-05:00July 19th, 2010|Categories: RAK, Russell Kirk, W. Winston Elliott III|

Russell Kirk In the below quote Dr. Russell Kirk lays out the essentials for those of us seeking to preserve and restore Western civilization. He makes clear that true conservatives do not limit themselves to questions of politics and economics. In previous essays Brad, Bruce, John and Barbara have ranged from the politics [...]

Russell Kirk: Is Life Worth Living?

By |2018-10-16T20:26:05-05:00July 17th, 2010|Categories: Books, RAK, Russell Kirk|

Russell Kirk Why this essay? Because it is lovely and deserving of our attention. Enjoy Dr. Kirk as he reminds us that life is about much more than politics and the art of getting and spending. Much more. Thank you Dr. Kirk. Concluding a public lecture, Dr. Kirk once assured his listeners: “If [...]

Freud and Education: Russell Kirk

By |2018-10-16T20:26:06-05:00July 16th, 2010|Categories: Education, Freud, Liberal Learning, RAK, Russell Kirk, W. Winston Elliott III|

Russell Kirk Having spent the last eighteen years working with educators I am often surprised that there is little awareness of the Progressive roots of modern public education. In this essay Dr. Kirk makes the point that educationists, drawing from progressive theories and the psychology of Freud, created a system which they felt [...]

Conservatives and Libertarians

By |2019-04-11T10:34:36-05:00July 15th, 2010|Categories: Conservatism, Libertarianism, Politics, RAK, Russell Kirk, Traditional Conservatives and Libertarians|Tags: |

Dr. Kirk uses strong words to oppose a conservative alliance with libertarians. In light of the recent discussion of this issue on this online journal I think it may prove fruitful to let Dr. Kirk join the conversation by way of excerpts from his essay “Chirping Sectaries.” The entire essay is well worth reading. Is [...]

The Essence of Conservatism

By |2018-10-16T20:26:08-05:00July 13th, 2010|Categories: Conservatism, RAK, Russell Kirk|

Russell Kirk Some of you may have read this before but we republish it because it deserves to be re-read. Pay special attention to the last two paragraphs. Are any of today’s conservative media personalities capable of making the point that “A conservatism of instinct must be reinforced by a conservatism of thought and imagination.”? [...]

Russell Kirk’s Ten Principles of Conservatism

By |2018-10-16T20:26:08-05:00July 11th, 2010|Categories: Community, Conservatism, RAK, Russell Kirk, W. Winston Elliott III|

Being neither a religion nor an ideology, the body of opinion termed conservatism possesses no Holy Writ and no Das Kapital to provide dogmata. So far as it is possible to determine what conservatives believe, the first principles of the conservative persuasion are derived from what leading conservative writers and public men have professed during the past two centuries. [...]

Russell Kirk: Master of Imaginative Conservatism

By |2018-10-16T20:26:09-05:00July 10th, 2010|Categories: Conservatism, Quotation, RAK, Russell Kirk, W. Winston Elliott III|

The twentieth century conservative is concerned, first of all, for the regeneration of spirit and character—with the perennial problem of the inner order of the soul, the restoration of the ethical understanding, and the religious sanction upon which any life worth living is founded. This is conservatism at its highest. —Russell Kirk Friends, may we [...]

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