Review excerpt:
This book ... is mistitled. It should not be Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea, but "Conservatism: The Autobiography of a Temperament." Mr. Kristol was--and is--a central figure in the establishment of the neoconservative counterculture, perhaps best defined as the shift of several liberal intellectuals to the center and right in the 1970's and 80's. He founded the Public Interest (with Daniel Bell) and the National Interest, which became the most intelligent realist voice in foreign policy debates. And he became a father figure--literally in one case--to a new generation of conservatives, who came of age under Ronald Reagan. But what comes across strongly is how many of these historical shifts occurred around Mr. Kristol. They certainly didn't occur within him. His own conservative disposition is remarkably consistent throughout.
Irving Kristol is a senior fellow at AEI.
