Review excerpt:

Even if it is so that the Neoconservative movement had to wait until the crises brought on by the Great Society, Vietnam, and Woodstock simply compelled a remobilization of liberal thought, it could be held that the personal enterprise and talents of Irving Kristol were indispensable to its success. Kristol became, in the words of George Will, "a one-man critical mass for a political movement." The autobiography of his idea is missing only the identity of Whodunit, but the hints are everywhere, and readers will rejoice in this great exploration of cause and effect.

Irving Kristol is a senior fellow at AEI.