Coming Soon

Cover via Amazon

OK.  I will admit that things have gotten off to a little rockier start than I might have liked.  Interest in the book giveaway and traffic in general has been limited.

But I am not complaining.  The plan is simply to work harder, write better, and soldier on.  I think I have settled on the design and layout and now can concentrate on content.

To that end, I thought you might be interested in some of the content I have planed for next week and beyond.

One of the things this site is about is generating debate and discussion on how best to further conservatism or center-right policy.  To kick start that I plan to discuss a number of books that claim to offer a way forward on just this question.  Here are a few of them:

• Comeback by David Frum
• Grand New Party by Ross Douthat & Reihan Salam
• Do the Right Thing by Mike Huckabee
• Heroic Conservatism by Michael J. Gerson

I also plan to talk with Jonah Goldberg about the paperback release of Liberal Fascism.

And we will continue our review of books focused on William F. Buckley and the conservative movement:

• Right Time, Right Place by Richard Brookhiser
• An American Family: The Buckley’s by Reid Buckley
• Strictly Right by Linda Bridges & John R. Coyne Jr.
• The Reagan I Knew by William F. Buckley, Jr.

As you can see, I have a lot of work to do.  I hope you will check back as the site develops and tell your friends about it.

And don’t hesitate to weight in with comments or suggestions.

George Kennan: A Writing Life by Lee Congdon

George F. Kennan’s is not an easy figure to place on our rather simplified political spectrum.  His positions on the hot button issues of the day placed him on one side or the other, but just as often seemed to contradict each other.

He was opposed to Joseph McCarthy, nuclear weapons, the militarization of the Cold War, and the Vietnam War; he was an agrarian localist that decried industrialization; he preferred engagement to demonization; and he served under, and advised, a number of iconic liberal presidents.

And yet, he was staunchly anti-communist (and anti-Stalinist) and set the course of the early Cold War; opposed the creation of the United Nations; largely preferred the free market system to the centralizing tendencies of socialism; was deeply suspicious of democracy and universalist views of politics; and decried the idealistic vision of liberal foreign policy.

Biographers and academics have tried to make sense of these, and many other, apparent contradictions (as did I in graduate school).  In George Kennan: A Writing Life Lee Congdon takes a different approach. (more…)

Format Changes

I am making some format changes to the website.  After many experiments with magazine type layouts of various types, I have decided that a traditional blog layout/format will actually work better.

In particular, it will be easier to provide links and promote discussion which is a big part of what I hope to accomplish.

I appreciate your patience through all of this.  Feel free to leave feedback about the site, the format, or anything else that comes to mind.

Losing Mum and Pup Book Giveaway

As a way to kick start the roll out of The Right Reads we are giving away a free copy of Losing Mum and Pup by Christopher Buckley.

Here is snippet from the dust jacket:

In twelve months between 2007 and 2008, Buckley coped with the passing of his dad, William F. Buckley, the father of the modern conservative movement, and his mother, Patricia Taylor Buckley, one of New York’s most glamorous and colorful socialites. He was their only child and their relationship was close and complicated. Writes Buckley: “They were not – with respect to every other set of loving, wonderful parents in the world – your typical mom and dad.”

As Buckley tells the story of their final year together, he takes readers on a surprisingly entertaining tour through hospitals, funeral homes, and memorial services, capturing the heartbreaking and disorienting feeling of becoming a 55-year-old orphan. Buckley maintains his sense of humor by recalling the words of Oscar Wilde: “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness.”

To win leave a comment below by the end of the day Thursday.  I will draw a name and post the winner Friday.