Ancient Greece and American Conservatism: Classical Influence on the Modern Right

by John Bloxham

Overview

US conservatives have repeatedly turbaned to classical Greece for inspiration and rhetorical power. In the 1950s they used Plato to defend moral absolutism; in the 1960s it was Aristotle as a means to develop a uniquely conservative social science; and then Thucydides helped to justify a more assertive foreign policy in the 1990s.
By tracing this phenomenon and analysing these, and various other, examples of selectivity, subversion and adaptation within their broader social and political contexts, John Bloxham here employs classical thought as a prism through which to explore competing strands in American conservatism. From the early years of the Cold War to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Bloxham illuminates the depth of conservatives' engagement with Greece, the singular flexibility of Greek ideas and the varied and diverse ways that Greek thought has reinforced and invigorated conservatism. This innovative work of reception studies offers a richer understanding of the American Right and is important reading for classicists, modern US historians and political scientists alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781788311540
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/30/2018
Series:	Library of Classical Studies
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

John Bloxham teaches at the University of Nottingham, where he leads courses on classical history and ancient Greek. He is also an associate tutor at the University of Leicester and associate lecturer at the Open University. He received his PhD from the University of Nottingham.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction 1

Methodology 2

Definitional Issues 5

Structure 8

1 Plato's Ideas had Consequences: Greek Thought and the 'New Conservatives' 9

The Political Context 10

Weaver and the Conservative Revival 12

Other Conservative Appropriations of Greek Thought 28

Willmoore Kendall's McCarthyite Socrates 33

The Consequences of these Ideas 47

2 Leo Strauss and the Ancients against the Moderns 54

Leo Strauss 56

Eric Voegelin 69

Strauss on Natural Right 73

Case Study: Strauss's Xenophon's Socratic Discourse: An Interpretation of the Oeconommicus 83

Back to Conservatism 93

3 Rise of the Neoconservatives 99

Neoconservatism 99

Irving Kristol 103

Neoconservative Thinkers and the Avoidance of Antiquity 108

Neoconservative Thinkers and the Recourse to Antiquity 111

Straussians First, Neoconservatives Second 121

4 The Classicizing of the American Mind 131

Crisis on the Campus? 134

Conservative Critiques 136

Neocons and Paleo-cons 141

William Bennett 144

Allan Bloom 150

5 War and Greece 174

The Cold War 175

Conservative Perspectives 177

George W. Bush and Iraq 181

Seeing the World through Greece 185

A Neoconservative Thucydides? 193

Straussians and 'Regime' 203

Greek Ideas in Perspective 224

Epilogue 229

Notes 238

Bibliography 266

Index 280

Editorial Reviews

This is a fascinating book ... A first-class critique of how conservative thinkers in post-war America turbaned back to the ancient Greeks in their challenge to liberal relativism.” —Classics for All

“It is refreshing to read a balanced discussion of American political ideologies. John Bloxham's Ancient Greece and American Conservatism: Classical Influence on the Modern Right is an admirable example of scholarly detachment and penetrating analysis … One of the most important contributions of Bloxham's monograph is to illuminate the diversity of conservative approaches to ancient and modern history … By combining classical reception studies, the classical tradition, and intellectual history, Bloxham clearly illustrates the dynamic nature of classical texts and many of the underlying theories of American conservative authors. Without a doubt, this book is a valuable contribution to the study of Classics and History and serves as a model for sound and well-reasoned scholarship.” —The Classical Jourbanal

From the Publisher