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conservatives

Right coding: who owns Homer anyway?

Nadya Williams   |  January 9, 2025

The right coding of Homer or the classics is really not helpful for anyone.

Reaping the whirlwind

Gillis Harp   |  January 6, 2025

Viereck saw this coming.

The Author’s Corner with Mark A. Neels

Rachel Petroziello   |  December 20, 2024

Mark A. Neels is a History Teacher at Chaminade College Preparatory School. This interview is based on his new book, Lincoln’s Conservative Advisor: Attorney General Edward Bates (Southern Illinois University Press, 2024). JF: What led you to write Lincoln’s Conservative Advisor? […]

The Author’s Corner with Peter Roady

Rachel Petroziello   |  November 6, 2024

Peter Roady is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Utah. This interview is based on his new book, The Contest over National Security: FDR, Conservatives, and the Struggle to Claim the Most Powerful Phrase in American Politics (Harvard […]

The Author’s Corner with Ian T. Iverson

Rachel Petroziello   |  October 28, 2024

Ian T. Iverson is Associate Editor of the John Dickinson Writings Project. This interview is based on his new book, Holding the Political Center in Illinois: Conservatism and Union on the Brink of the Civil War (Kent State University Press, […]

Secular academia’s hostility to professors

Nadya Williams   |  September 10, 2024

While higher tier institutions may have a problem with conservatives, lower-tier state universities have a problem with faculty.

“The only cause that really matters to most Republicans now is Trump himself.”

John Fea   |  September 21, 2023

Rich Lowry, the editor-in-chief of the conservative National Review, believes Trump will “get away with snubbing conservatives on abortion.” Here is a taste of his piece at Politico: So far the reaction to Trump’s remarks has been muted on most […]

Two former Republicans search for a political home

John Fea   |  January 12, 2023

New York Times columnists Bret Stephens and David Brooks, both conservatives, reflect on what has happened to the Republican Party. It’s a fascinating discussion. Here is a taste: David Brooks: My thinking about the G.O.P. goes back to a brunch I […]

U.S. historians who American conservatives like

John Fea   |  August 28, 2022

Recently journalist Matt Yglesias asked his more than 530,000 Twitter followers this question: At the time I am writing this, his post has 384 comments. After eliminating non-historians and purveyors of the past who think they are historians, I made […]

Prominent conservatives: There was no election fraud in 2020

John Fea   |  July 15, 2022

A group of conservatives just released a 72-page report, based on a close reading of all the pertinent court cases, proving that there was no fraud in the 2020 election. The report is titled, “Lost, Not Stolen: The Conservative Case […]

Why have conservatives remained silent on the Southern Baptist abuse scandals?

John Fea   |  May 25, 2022

Here is Paul Waldman at The Washington Post: There are few things that members of the American right emphasize more often about themselves than their deep commitment to protecting children — particularly when it comes to the threat of sexual […]

It’s time for gun rights advocates to stop “looking the other way”

John Fea   |  May 17, 2022

Conservative Washington Post columnist Henry Olsen calls out his fellow conservatives in the wake of the Buffalo shooting. Here is a taste of his piece: Yes, it’s inevitable that some mass shootings will occur in any society with private gun […]

When conservatives loved Francisco Franco

John Fea   |  January 25, 2022

Today it is Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. In the 1950s it was the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Here is Joshua Tait at The Bulwark: Prominent conservatives have discovered Hungary and its “twenty-first century dictator,” Viktor Orbán. This week, Tucker Carlson will […]

The “radical young intellectuals” of the American Right

John Fea   |  December 3, 2021

In a piece at The New Republic, writer and podcaster Sam Adler-Bell lists some of their names: Nate Hochman, Declan Leary, Saurabh Sharma, Jack Butler, Sohrab Ahmari, Christopher Rufo, Josh Hammer, Jack Posobiec, Curtis Yarvin, and Matthew Walther. Here is […]

Ronald Reagan in 1975: “Why don’t we try reverse psychology and make it harder to vote?”

John Fea   |  May 7, 2021

I am reading Rick Perlstein’s Reaganland and was struck by this passage (p.93-94): Look what happened after President Carter, on March 22, sent a letter to Congress recommending a package of electoral reforms. The president was concerned that America ranked […]

A conservative case for reparations

John Fea   |  April 23, 2021

I spent a day with Washington Post contributor and Ohio journalist Gary Abernathy in February 2020, just before the pandemic hit. He was part of a group of students and teachers who visited Messiah University as part of a Georgetown […]

What is conservatism?

John Fea   |  April 2, 2021

As historian Joshua Tait reminds us, the meaning of the term “conservatism” has been a contested one in the United States. In his recent piece at The Bulwark he compares a circle of writers in the 1940s and early 1950s […]