The Betrayal of Liberalism

Just fifty years ago the literary critic Lionel Trilling spoke of liberalism as “not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition” in American society. At the turn of the twentieth century this is clearly no longer the case, when conservative ideas have succeeded in many areas of public policy. Yet America’s mainstream institutions—the media, the academy, popular culture, religion, the law—remain largely under the sway of a liberal ethos. In this incisive collection of essays which appeared originally in The New Criterion, nine distinguished critics and observers examine the origins and prospects of liberalism, from its roots in thinkers such as Rousseau and Mill to its troubled legacy in twentieth-century pursuits. They are cogent in explaining the compromising effects of liberalism in the moral and intellectual life of our culture, and seek to disentangle what is beneficent from what is destructive in its ideas. At a time when basic liberal assumptions about man and society are so deeply entrenched that they go largely unrecognized—and unexamined—The Betrayal of Liberalism offers a rewarding and enriching analysis. Its contributors include Roger Scruton, Keith Windschuttle, Hadley Arkes, Robert Conquest, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Robert Kagan, John Silber, John O’Sullivan, Hilton Kramer, and Roger Kimball.