As the 2008 election cycle moves into high gear, the fractures and exhaustion of conservatism and the conservative movement are frequent themes of public discourse. Three recent acclaimed books examine the nature and history of the American right from different perspectives. Speakers at this panel discussion will debate the strengths and weaknesses of the Right and how conservative ideas will play out in the next election cycles.

Donald T. Critchlow, a history professor at Saint Louis University and author of The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History (Harvard University Press, 2007); Jacob Heilbrunn, a senior editor of The National Interest and author of They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons (Doubleday, 2008); and Mark A. Smith, a political science and communications professor at the University of Washington and author of The Right Talk: How Conservatives Transformed the Great Society into the Economic Society (Princeton University Press, 2007) will speak about their new books. John Samples, director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Representative Government will comment and Steven F. Hayward, the F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at AEI, will moderate.