Pragmatic Conservatism: Edmund Burke and His American Heirs

261 Pages·2016·1.84 MB·English

by  Robert J. Lacey (auth.)

P R AG M AT I C
C O N S E RVAT I S M
Edmund Burke and
His American Heirs
ROBERT J. LACEY
Pragmatic Conservatism

Robert   J.   Lacey
Pragmatic
Conservatism
Edmund Burke and His American Heirs
Robert   J.   Lacey
Iona College
New Rochelle, New York, USA
ISBN 978-1-349-94903-8 ISBN 978-1-137-59295-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59295-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016947815
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For Abraham

A progressive is always a conservative; he conserves the direction of prog-
ress. A reactionary is always a rebel.
—G. K. Chesterton, 1909
vii

A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
The idea for this book did not fully come together until I was given the
opportunity to co-teach the Sophomore Honors Humanities Seminar at
Iona College in the spring of 2012. My colleague Aaron Rosenfeld, from
whom I have learned a great deal over the last few years, suggested that
I lecture on Edmund Burke. After I took his advice, what started out as
an exegesis of the political writings of Peter Viereck grew into something
a bit more ambitious. The fruitful discussions in our seminar inspired me
to broaden the scope of my project into a study of an underappreciated
and misunderstood tradition in conservative political thought. I owe a
debt of gratitude to Aaron and the fantastic students we have had the
privilege to teach.
I thank my former research assistant, Kate Roberts, who exhibited
remarkable attention to detail and organizational skills. I especially appre-
ciate her willingness to spend hours sifting through primary documents
at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University. Her
efforts proved invaluable to me.
I am grateful to the many people who read parts of the manuscript
and offered encouraging words and constructive criticism. The follow-
ing people deserve special mention: Marcus Aldredge, Carl Bogus, Marc
Carbonneau, Gregory Collins, Mary Hagerty, Melody Herr, Jonathan
Keller, Josh Klein, Cathy Lavery, David Leitch, Josh Leon, Daniel Lorge,
Drew Maciag, Jerome Mileur, Seán Molloy, Claes Ryn, Lisa Szefel, Ralph
Whitehead, and Alan Wolfe.
I reserve my deepest gratitude for Rebecca Root, my wife, without
whom I could never have written this book. She read every word of the
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