In progress

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The Making of a Cultural Conservative

Working title · Forthcoming

An intellectual and political memoir capturing the story of the author's journey from childhood in rural upstate New York to the Ivy League, halls of intellectual life, and to corridors of American power. These include government service at the United Nations and the US State Department as a speechwriter in the Reagan administration, and affiliations as editor and author with numerous influential journals and magazines.

This personal story of a social conservative is interwoven with seminal events of the times since 1960 — including the Vietnam War, the hostage crisis in Iran, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the liberation of Eastern Europe, 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the culture wars on the home front across the arts and higher education.

Written for a general audience, and with Eberstadt's customary insight and literary flair, this book will be a major contribution to contemporary intellectual history, and a singular reflection on what it means to be a leader and outlier firmly grounded in conservative and religious tradition.