This interview with Ted V. McAllister and Bruce P. Frohnen, authors of Coming Home: Reclaiming America’s Conservative Soul, covers topics including the necessary connection between history and idealism and the enduring relationship of opportunity and equality in the American experience.
Thanks for speaking with us. Tell us how the book came about.
Ted: As part of The American Project, we had produced a public statement designed to reclaim American conservative principles in a time of great confusion. We called it “A Way Forward” and determined that we needed a supporting historical document that would demonstrate that these principles, however eclipsed recently, are deeply embedded in the American story. However, what wasn’t clear until I began writing it was that the recent collapse of the conservative establishment and the reemergence of long-dormant or quiet forces and ideas was forcing a new assessment of the past. The narrative that had long been part of the conservative establishment was far too Cold War centered and had completely ignored longer and deeper trends in American history. What was needed was a new history that revealed that the way forward in a time of intellectual chaos required reclaiming our deepest traditions.
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