The Roads to Modernity: The British, French, and American Enlightenments
A recent David Brooks column name checks Gertrude Himmelfarb, alluding to the argument she sets out in this book. Reading his column I wondered how many people recognized the name, or realized he was implicitly endorsing this neoconservative argument. In The Roads to Modernity Himmelfarb makes the argument that not all Enlightenment-era philosophy is the same and there are important differences between the liberalism spawned by the European Enlightenment and the liberalism rooted in the British and America enlightenment.
Why this is libertarian/conservative: I've mentioned before that when liberals think about the roots of liberalism they think about the American Revolution and the Enlightenment-era thinking that supported it, whereas when Conservatives invoke the roots of liberalism they're often referring to the French Revolution and the European Enlightenment. Gertrude Himmelfarb (well-known in neoconservative circles) explains that distinction in this book. Himmelfarb is a talented writer, historian, and thinker in her own right, but is also notable for being the mother of Bill Kristol and the wife of Irving Kristol. Perhaps no family has done more to shape neoconservatism than the Himmelfarb-Kristols.
Buy the Kindle version: The Roads to Modernity: The British, French, and American Enlightenments
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