Skip to Main Content

Politics of Prudence

Published by ISI Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
See More Retailers

About The Book

Throughout his career, whether as a man of letters, professor, soldier, journalist, novelist, or world traveler, Russell Kirk found himself in the thick of the intellectual controversies of his age. In The Politics of Prudence, his twenty-ninth book (and the last to be published during his lifetime), Kirk endeavors to defend a truly conservative "prudential politics," as opposed to the "ideological politics" now often advanced by self-identified conservatives and those with whom they are allied, including libertarians and neoconservatives. Kirk lays out, in separate chapters, ten principles, events, thinkers, and books that have defined and shaped the American conservative mind and heart. He also examines the difficulties posed for conservatives by increasing political and economic centralization, imprudent foreign policy, educational decline, and other symptoms of cultural decay. This new edition of The Politics of Prudence includes an illuminating introduction by Mark C. Henrie.

About The Author

Russell Kirk (1918-1994), historian of ideas, critic, essayist, editor and novelist, was the author of thirty-two books. Among them are The Conservative Mind, The Roots of American Order, America's British Culture, The Politic of Prudence, Eliot and His Age, Enemies of the Permanent Things, Edmund Burke, Redeeming the Time, John Randolph of Roanoke, and six works of fiction. His memoirs, The Sword of Imagination, were published posthumously. He received twelve honorary doctorates from American universities and many awards, including the Presidential Citizens Medal. The Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, founded in 1995 and based in Mecosta, Michigan, continues his work to defend "the permanent things" today.

Product Details

  • Publisher: ISI Books (September 15, 2004)
  • Length: 314 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781932236552

Browse Related Books

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images