West (politics, Univ. of Dallas) aims to defend the U.S. Constitution and the men who drafted it in 1787 from the accusations of sexism, racism, and prejudice against the poor. West writes from a conservative perspective, and, as he frequently pauses to remind the reader, his arguments are learned and logical. However, this is a deeply flawed book. West writes in a supercilious and dismissive tone. Worse, he digresses far afield to introduce his ideas on contemporary issues, which have almost nothing to do with the founders; his chapter on the family is simply a compendium of current conservative views and he rarely mentions the founders, who said and wrote little on the subject. More eloquent and elegant conservative viewpoints on the founding include Marvin Olasky's Fighting for Liberty and Virtue (Regnery, 1996), M.E. Bradford and Russell Kirk's A Better Guide Than Reason (Transaction, 1994), and Forrest McDonald's We the People (Transaction, 1992).Fritz Buckallew, Univ. of Central Oklahoma Lib., Edmond
A persuasive case. .. stunningly bold.
William and Mary Quarterly
Vindicating the Founders is important but (relatively) easy. Learning from them is more difficult. This book helps us learn from Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison. And there aren't many better teachers about America.
A valuable contribution to history and government studies on the founding.
One of those rare publications that promises to shape the field of inquiry about the American founders for decades to come.
West shows how textbooks charge the American Founders with not conforming to present-day standards of political correctness. He also shows how the Founders nevertheless deserve the admiration that they used to receive from teachers and school children many decades ago. West's arguments are convincing.
Americans can count themselves fortunate to have at the bar a scholar of West's erudition, good sense, and tenacity.
There are important lessons in this book for political thinkers.. .. By challenging popular new ideas and reviving unfashionable old ones, Mr. West contributes to the process of reclaiming the founders.
It's hardly news that in our time some Americans have taken to accusing the Founders of their country of hypocrisy. There is something decidedly cheap about such charges. They reek of ingratitude and imprudence. But they are being made by historians who want to substitute their own authority for the Founders' and it is necessary for someone to take them seriously enough to provide a refutation. Thomas West has risen to the occasion with Vindicating the Founders .
West not only scolds those academics who denigrate the brilliance of the founders, he also exposes their shameful prejudice toward those great men who molded the liberties we enjoy today.
This defense of the founders with their own words and voices is closely reasoned, sharply focused, and highly convincing.. .. This is a superb book. The historical research is excellent, the analysis quite penetrating, and writing quite lucid. This book is rich with truth and wisdom. It deserves a wide audience.
Mr. West presents a compelling and well-researched history of the founding fathers and their motives in establishing a new nation. Most important, he challenges effectively the gross misrepresentation of the founding fathers based on presentistic and misleading political judgments.
West has written a powerful vindication of our common civic faith.
The American Enterprise - Daniel J. Mahoney
Compelling, accurate, closely reasoned, and entirely convincing.
West is committed to understanding the American founders accurately and in their own terms. His work is unfailingly penetrating and trustworthy, and I eagerly seek it out.
A provocative and interesting book.
Vindicating the Founders is an eloquent defense of the principles of the American founding by one of its most learned students.
A pathbreaking book. The American people finally have a definitive answer to the distortions about the founding that liberals have been pouring into the American mind since the 1960s. I recommend this book heartily. It belongs on every bookshelf and in every classroom in America.
Provocative book.. .. Vindicating the Founders is not only about justice, but about how to cultivate the whole cluster of virtues which 'are necessary for a people to be free.' West's admirable study begins a discussion that is long overdue.
Thomas West has written a courageous book.
Modern Age - author of The Myth of American Individualism
With prosecutorial rigor and scholarly erudition, West defends the Founding Fathers and their creation—the American republic—from the relentless assault both have undergone in recent decades.. .. West's tightly argued book adresses a problem that should be a concern to all—namely, the attack on basic American principles.
A political scientist at the University of Dallas, West has given us a book that challenges the reigning orthodoxy as expressed by the high priests of multiculturalism. Those who reflexively reject his thesis—the nation's founding is the source of our greatness—have a moral and intellectual duty to refute him.
Thomas West has written a courageous book.
A political scientist at the University of Dallas, West has given us a book that challenges the reigning orthodoxy as expressed by the high priests of multiculturalism. Those who reflexively reject his thesis—the nation's founding is the source of our greatness—have a moral and intellectual duty to refute him.
Provocative book. . . . Vindicating the Founders is not only about justice, but about how to cultivate the whole cluster of virtues which 'are necessary for a people to be free.' West's admirable study begins a discussion that is long overdue.
Thomas West has written a courageous book. author of The Myth of American Individualism
Provocative book. . . . Vindicating the Founders is not only about justice, but about how to cultivate the whole cluster of virtues which 'are necessary for a people to be free.' West's admirable study begins a discussion that is long overdue.
West has written a powerful vindication of our common civic faith.
