Patriotism Is Not Enough: Harry Jaffa, Walter Berns, and the Arguments that Redefined American Conservatism - Softcover

“This scintillating exercise in intellectual history is fresh evidence of two things. One is that for many decades now America’s most profound and consequential political arguments have not been between conservatives and liberals, but among conservatives. The other is that Steven F. Hayward, author of the magisterial two-volume The Age of Reagan, is an unsurpassed guide concerning conservatism’s not-always-amiable factions.”
―George F. Will

“My old boss Ronald Reagan reminded us in his Farewell Address that America requires informed patriotism if it is to avoid ‘an erosion of the American spirit.’ We have Steven F. Hayward to thank for exploring the lives and thoughts of two of our greatest conservative thinkers―who happened to be fierce rivals―on this vital problem.”
―William J. Bennett, former Secretary of Education, host of The Bill Bennett Interview, and New York Times best-selling author

“The famous feud between two of the leading disciples of Leo Strauss makes for a fascinating intellectual story, and in telling it, Steven F. Hayward sheds a bright light on the major issues which have bedeviled political philosophy in our time.”
―Norman Podhoretz

“Steven F. Hayward has a marvelous, Isaiah Berlin–like ability to bring both ideas and the individual behind those ideas to light. Hayward’s account of the rivalry between Harry Jaffa and Walter Berns gives the reader not only a new angle on the history of modern conservatism but also more broadly makes sense of the rise of constitutional conservatism.”
―Fred Siegel, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and scholar-in-residence at Saint Francis College

“[Hayward’s book] will painlessly acquaint newcomers with some pivotal moments and issues in recent intellectual history, even as it keeps those who already know the subject entertained.”
―Tod Lindberg, Commentary

“Hayward’s book is so timely precisely because the kind of patriotism he discusses provides a useful corrective for Trump-style nationalism...Trump’s nationalism provides a useful corrective based only on philosophic principle. They are mutually correcting and mutually supportive. On the one hand, a patriotism that is based only on the principles of the founding cannot succeed in winning elections, because voters rightly demand that any political movement that seeks their support have some plausible plan to address their ordinary interests. On the other hand, a patriotism that is based only on the untutored loves and interests of ordinary voters cannot preserve our precious inheritance of a regime based on natural rights, the rule of law, and self-government. A movement that acknowledges each of these concerns amounts to the kind of patriotism, and the kind of conservatism, that can both win elections and deserve to win them.”
―Carson Holloway, The Public Discourse

“Steve Hayward may be the most versatile man in American conservatism...There are just not many conservative public intellectuals who have deep knowledge of public policy who can also offer a subtle and textured analysis of political philosophy.”
―Jeremy Carl, National Review

“The book is a fascinating chronicle in itself and an instructive tour of important political precepts...Today’s confusion over what principles should guide our lawmaking―or regulate our society―make the Berns–Jaffa quarrel freshly relevant.”
―William Anthony Hay, Wall Street Journal

“What makes this book so refreshing is that author Steven Hayward details with gratitude the ways that both men deeply influenced him, and how both might have finally agreed with each other even if they never really acknowledged it.”
―Richard M. Reinsch II, LibertyLaw

“With Patriotism Is Not Enough, Steven Hayward has rendered in a lively way a tremendous service―especially at the present moment―by laying out some of the most essential questions concerning what it is to be an American and a conservative. One can only hope readers will turn next to his subjects’ best books.”
―Matthew J. Franck, Claremont Review of Books

Steven F. Hayward is a visiting scholar at the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of the two-volume political biography The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980, and The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counter-Revolution, 1980-1989. He has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, the Weekly Standard, National Review, and numerous other periodicals.