Letters to a Young Conservative

by Dinesh D'Souza

Overview

Among the topics Dinesh D'Souza covers in Letters to a Young Conservative: — Fighting Political Correctness — Authentic vs. Bogus Multiculturalism — Why Government Is the Problem — When the Rich Get Richer — How Affirmative Action Hurts Blacks — The Feminist Mistake — All the News That Fits — How to Harpoon a Liberal — The Self-Esteem Hoax — A Republican Realignment? — Why Conservatives Should Be Cheerful

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465017348
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	04/13/2005
Series:	Art of Mentoring (Paperback)
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dinesh D'Souza, the Rishwain Research Scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, served as senior domestic policy analyst in the White House in 1987-88. He is the bestselling author of Illiberal Education, The End of Racism, Ronald Reagan, and The Virtue of Prosperity. He divides his time between Washington, D.C, and San Diego, California.

Table of Contents

1	Conservatives vs. Liberals	1
2	The Libertarian Temptation	11
3	The Education of a Conservative	15
4	Pig Wrestling at Dartmouth	23
5	Fighting Political Correctness	35
6	Authentic vs. Bogus Multiculturalism	45
7	What's So Great About Great Books	55
8	How Reagan Outsmarted the Liberals	61
9	Why Government Is the Problem	77
10	When the Rich Get Richer	85
11	How Affirmative Action Hurts Blacks	91
12	The Feminist Mistake	101
13	Who Are the Postmodernists?	107
14	Why Professors Are So Left-Wing	113
15	All the News That Fits	117
16	A Living Constitution?	123
17	More Guns, Less Crime	131
18	How to Harpoon a Liberal	135
19	Lies My Teacher Taught Me	145
20	Was Lincoln a Bad Guy?	149
21	The Self-Esteem Hoax	161
22	Who Cares About the Snail Darter?	167
23	Against Gay Marriage	171
24	Family Values Since Oedipus	177
25	Speaking As a Former Fetus...	189
26	The Hypocrisy of Anti-Globalists	193
27	Are Immigrants to Blame?	197
28	Why Liberals Hate America	205
29	A Republican Realignment?	211
30	Why Conservatives Should Be Cheerful	219
31	A Conservative Reading List	225

Editorial Reviews

"Perfect for every undergraduate. And for every graduate who has forgotten, or never knew, the amplitude of the arguments for American conservatism."

From the Publisher

A recruiting brochure for the conservative cause, padded with the usual slams against Hilary Clinton, feminists, and anyone who questions the intellectual might and political accomplishments of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. This volume in the Art of Mentoring series finds Reagan administration alumnus D'Souza (The Virtue of Prosperity, 2000, etc.) piloting a young college student between the treacherous shoals of liberalism on one hand and libertarianism on the other. Avuncular and arch, D'Souza peppers his letters of instruction with homespun homilies about right-wing virtues: if I give a hungry man a sandwich, he writes, "then I have done a good deed, and I feel good about it. . . . But then see what happens when the government gets involved. The government takes my sandwich from me by force. . . . Instead of showing me gratitude . . . the man feels entitled to this benefit." Humans are inherently driven by self-interest, he goes on to explain, and conservatives, unlike liberals, have no illusions about their perfectibility; hence, conservatives have a more realistic view of humankind, which is why they're so much better at government and better people to boot. In all of this, D'Souza avoids the empty windbaggishness of Rush Limbaugh and the nastiness of Ann Coulter, but his arguments for the superiority of conservatism (or, really, neoconservatism) turn on a similar glibness: he falls easily into us good-them bad rhetoric and half-baked formulas (conservatives care about money, whereas liberals care about power, which is so much dirtier than money). Some of his attacks are well placed, if of the fish-in-a-barrel variety, as when he takes on proponents of academic "politicalcorrectness" (a term he popularized with his 1991 book Illiberal Education) and twits elite radicals who "communicate their anger in very nice lounges over expensive meals and fancy cocktails." Few, however, are completely thought through, suggesting that D'Souza wrote his Letters in a hurry-for money, of course, and not for power. Add water and stir: a political philosophy in 30 easy lessons, just right for college students too busy or ill-educated to read Edmund Burke or William Buckley. Author tour

Kirkus Reviews