Who Stole Conservatism?: Capitalism and the Disappearance of Traditional Conservatism

by Mario R. DiNunzio

Overview

A compelling explanation of how conservatism is no longer what its founders intended and how it has been transformed into a tool of materialist economics and emptied of much of its original meaning.

During America's 19th-century Gilded Age, free-enterprise capitalist ideas distorted and deeply obscured traditional political conservatism. Conservatism today, argues distinguished historian Mario R. DiNunzio, is a grotesque version of the ideology crafted by its founders, including John Adams in America and Edmund Burke in England.

This compelling book provides a survey of conservative thought and its transformation that originated in the late 19th century, exposing the influence of that transformed conservatism on 20th-century American politics—from Hoover to Goldwater to Reagan and on to the Tea Party. It explains the historical foundations of conservative thought and the radical transformation of conservatism into a vastly different ideology primarily concerned with the defense of unfettered capitalism and extreme rights of individuals, as opposed to the values of traditional conservatism: community, good order, tempered change, and enduring values. DiNunzio challenges conservatives and scholars of conservatism to confront the differences between what passes for conservatism in modern-day American politics and the tenets of the original conservative tradition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440852824
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/01/2016
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Mario R. DiNunzio, PhD, is emeritus professor of history at Providence College in Rhode Island, where he has taught for many years.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction 1

1 Architects of Classic Conservatism 13

2 Conservative and Liberal in Early America 37

3 Robber Barons, Darwin, and the Theft of Conservatism 53

4 Conservatives and Progressives Switch Horses 71

5 Modern Conservatism: Types, Tensions, and Confusions 89

6 The Politics of Conservatism 113

7 The Gilded Age Revisited 127

Conclusion 135

Epilogue-Election Season 143

Appendix 149

Notes 163

Sources 169

Index 175

Editorial Reviews

[T]he work is useful as an overview of this view of American conservatism. . . . Summing Up: Recommended.” —Choice

From the Publisher