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A compelling and necessary history of how the American conservative movement lost its philosophical compass—and a case for why it must be recovered.
In Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right, Stephanie Slade tells the story of a forgotten idea that once defined American conservatism. In the years following World War II, the fusionist philosophy—which united the classical liberal defense of individual freedom with the Judeo-Christian tradition of moral virtue—became the foundation of the conservative movement.
In an ironic twist, fusionism’s triumph during the Reagan years led to its decline, as its proponents no longer felt the need to explain and defend their beliefs. Today, many on the right embrace an emphatically anti-fusionist, power-oriented approach to politics that marks a sharp break from the principles of the American founding. And yet, Slade argues, it’s not too late to rediscover the dual importance of liberty and virtue. Fusionism is a lost philosophy whose time has come again.
Combining intellectual history with contemporary political analysis, Fusionism is a call to restore the ideas that once shaped the American right and made the United States exceptional. Slade makes the case that a return to fusionism is essential—not only to the health of the conservative movement but also to the survival of a free and virtuous society.
"You will not find a better explainer of—or advocate for—fusionism than Stephanie Slade. Fusionism is a splendid read. Slade shows us what American conservatism sometimes was, and might again be." —Laura K. Field, author of Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right
"Stephanie Slade brilliantly illuminates the truth that the free society is made possible by the creative tension between liberty and virtue. With clarity and insight, she shows that if we come to imagine that politics exists to eradicate that tension rather than navigate it, then we will fail to conserve our society. This book is essential reading for conservatives of all parties." —Yuval Levin, author of American Covenant
"Political movements need vigorous argument, but the rush toward the new often makes us forget that previous generations wrestled with similar dilemmas—and left behind compelling solutions. By recovering the fusionist tradition of figures like Frank Meyer, this book shows why that philosophy may still be the clearest path out of our present impasse." —George Hawley, author of Conservatism in a Divided America
"In a season of growing rancor and confusion in our nation's politics, Stephanie Slade has produced a perceptive study of modern American conservatism's intellectual roots in its simultaneous commitment to the defense of freedom and the pursuit of virtue. Her book is a welcome reappraisal of conservative intellectual history and an incisive exploration of the ideological fault lines now dividing the American right." —George H. Nash, author of The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945
"Though much has been written on the tension of conservatism and classical liberalism in the 1950s and 1960s, a sort of fusion became the default for almost all persons who were not already left or ideologically oriented and committed. Here, Slade brilliantly and artfully tells the story and offers brand new insights into the twentieth century." —Bradley J. Birzer, author of Russell Kirk: American Conservative
Stephanie Slade is a senior editor at Reason magazine, where she covers the ins and outs of the American conservative movement. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, America, U.S. News and World Report, and elsewhere.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: What the Heck Is Happening on the Right
1. A Debate over Definitions
2. Truth Withers When Freedom Dies
3. Anti-Liberalism Strikes Back
4. The Struggle Availeth
5. Pitchfork Populism, Then and Now
6. Rise of the Right-Wing Progressives
7. Red-Pilling the American Right
8. New Words for Ancient Truths
Notes
Bibliography
Index