At The Imaginative Conservative, we seek to preserve the American Republic and the Western Tradition on a daily basis, through the publication of essays that reflect the best of conservative thought, past and present. Our journal now features 8,900 essays (by 1,500 authors) that have been read more than 30 million times. We could not have [...]
Every empire had security reasons, to go along with economic ones, to justify permanent military occupation. I say this: Kill the terrorists. Destroy their bases. When necessary, go back and do it again. Don’t occupy foreign nations. As the United States pulls its troops out of Afghanistan after a 20-year war, The Imaginative Conservative looks back at [...]
A. Wade Razzi, Chief Academic Officer at American College of the Building Arts, is interviewed by W. Winston Elliott III, Editor-in-Chief of The Imaginative Conservative. W. Winston Elliott III: Describe ACBA and its mission. The American College of the Building Arts was founded in the wake of Hurricane Hugo, which did massive damage to the [...]
Dear Friend of The Imaginative Conservative: I want to share with you two reader comments we received recently that bear witness to the transformative power of The Imaginative Conservative: "What you have added to my morning routine is transformative. You are truly a breath of fresh air, where stagnant, unimaginative thinking rules too many morning routines." —Caston Thomas "Just [...]
In an era when many Americans have lost a sense of patriotism and common purpose, The Imaginative Conservative presents a thoughtful, civil discussion about what has made America and the West great. Here we offer reasoned and reflective essays on issues of politics, economics, culture, liberal learning, written by some of the greatest minds of both the present and the [...]
Becoming educated is a process of becoming intellectually free so as to be capable of thinking for oneself, engaging in ongoing learning and inquiry, and achieving inner freedom. St. John’s College believes that the life of the mind is crucial to full human flourishing. Loyal readers of The Imaginative Conservative have been given many opportunities [...]
Amidst the tumult year of the modern world, many people are seeking comfort in the Divine manifestations of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness in this world. "The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places," J.R.R. Tolkien wrote. "But still there is much that is fair, and though in all [...]
Divine Goodness. Timeless Truths. Beautiful Works of God and Man. Especially in times of crisis, The Permanent Things are the things to which conservatives have always been devoted. Indeed, they are the things that all men ought to embrace at all times. Here at The Imaginative Conservative, we offer reasoned and reflective essays on issues of politics, economics, [...]
As we are forced into isolation and confronted by our mortality in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we begin to ask ourselves an important question: What does it mean to be human? Gleaves Whitney, Director of Grand Valley State University’s Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies, and Winston Elliott III, The Imaginative Conservative’s Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, [...]
From Union to Empire: Essays in the Jeffersonian Tradition by Clyde N. Wilson (356 pages, The Foundation for American Education, 2003) “To check power, to return the American empire to republicanism we do not need to resort to the drastic right of revolution nor to the destructive goal of anarchic individualism. We have in the [...]
“First attend to the adjustment of your own soul, particularly the regulative liberal learning of your intellect, then project your internal economy on the world as social and political justice. The other way around is headless.” – Eva Brann, The Music of the Republic: Essays on Socrates’ Conversations and Plato’s Writings Eva Brann is a [...]
Russell Kirk offers us a rich legacy in words and deeds. If we heed them we may yet play our part in preserving our Republic’s ordered liberty. The thought of Dr. Russell Kirk has inspired many people and many projects, including the journal that you are now reading. Founded by Dr. Bradley Birzer and myself [...]
Homeric Moments: Clues to Delight in Reading the Odyssey and the Iliad (326 pages, Paul Dry Books, 2002) "Reading Homer's poems is one of the purest, most inexhaustible pleasures life has to offer—a secret somewhat too well kept in our time. The aim of this book is to tell anyone who might care–first-time, second-time, or third-time [...]
An enthusiastic patron of the artwork of Leonardo da Vinci, this king persuaded the great Italian Renaissance master to make France his home in his later years. (Leonardo brought with him his Mona Lisa, and the famous painting remains in Paris today.) It was even said that the king cradled Leonardo as the great master lay on his deathbed, the king [...]