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At a time of significant change in American politics, AEI is going back to basics exploring the philosophical and historical roots of American conservatism. One of the challenges of writing a long history of conservatism is how conservatism's central concept frequently changes. Does conservatism imply deference to tradition and a preference for hierarchy over egalitarianism? Or, is it defined by its support for a vigorous foreign policy and a free-market economy? Historians of conservatism face the danger of adopting a definition and including or excluding figures or movements from the past according to how well they conform to it. Is America's "conservative tradition" real, or is it a figment of historians' imaginations? Does conservative-history writing raise methodological questions, comparable to the issues raised by Marxist historiography? Patrick Allitt, Cahoon Family Professor of American History at Emory University, will discuss these and other issues at the November Bradley Lecture.
| 5:15 p.m. |
| Registration |
| 5:30 |
| Introduction: |
| ARTHUR C. BROOKS, AEI |
| Lecture: |
| PATRICK ALLITT, Emory University |
| Question and Answer |
| 7:00 |
| Adjournment and Wine and Cheese Reception |
Patrick Allitt is the Cahoon Family Professor of American History at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where he has taught since 1988. Mr. Allitt was born and raised in England and has earned degrees from Oxford University, the University of California–Berkeley, and Harvard Divinity School. He is the author of six books, including Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America: 1950–1985 (Cornell University Press, 1993) and The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History (Yale University Press, 2009).
