---
product_id: 43792922
title: "NeoConservatism: Why We Need It"
brand: "encounter books"
price: "€ 7.95"
currency: EUR
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 19
category: "Book"
url: https://www.desertcart.it/products/43792922-neoconservatism-why-we-need-it
store_origin: IT
region: Italy
---

# NeoConservatism: Why We Need It

**Brand:** encounter books
**Price:** € 7.95
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

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- **What is this?** NeoConservatism: Why We Need It by encounter books
- **How much does it cost?** € 7.95 with free shipping
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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Immensely pleasurable, thought provoking, intellectually enriching
  

*by S***R on Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2016*

I'm surprised to find myself, a lifelong lefty, recommending a book on conservatism (with both big and small Cs), but I think it broadens the liberal mind to realise that not everyone who subscribes to right-of-centre views is either stupid or evil — and Douglas, who is a classic right winger, has a luminous intellect and is scrupulously moral. Douglas is an old school patriot of a kind that has long gone out of fashion: the intellectual love child of Edmund Burke and Christopher Hitchens. His prose is refreshingly lucid and sincere and infused with a stop-fiddling-while-London-burns sense of urgency. I disagree with some of the stances he takes in the book and was quite surprised by his fervent defence of the Anglican church, its belief system and its faith-based Anglican schools, since he is an atheist. But, on some issues, I believe he is absolutely spot on: especially in chapter 3, which deals with Islamism, and in his scathing debunking of moral relativism. This is old-fashioned oratory at its best: a bracing antidote to political correctness, Orwellian doublespeak, spin and academic obscurantism. Whether or not you subscribe to his views (and I don’t always), he’s worth taking seriously. And if you love good writing, he’s an enormous pleasure to read.

### ⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Eloquent and thoughtful man hitches himself to ideas that've crashed and burned
  

*by I***E on Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2018*

Douglas Murray is an absorbing man to listen to, which makes sense when you consider his intelligence, historical knowledge, and general politeness (a particular rarity among talkative right-wing commentators). He's a prolific speaker and writer (mainly of articles), and I've always considered the contributions he's made to discourse on political correctness, culture, foreign policy, and immigration to be pretty valuable. This book was also a joy to read (mainly from a literary perspective). He does a good job crafting a deep historical narrative going back to the philosophy of 20th century thinker Leo Strauss, developing and strengthening with Irving Kristol during the culture wars of the 60s and 70s, capturing political power during the Reagan Revolution, and capping off (hopefully) with the Bush II administration's invasion/destruction of Iraq and the destabilization of the Middle East.Because Murray is a pretty honest man, I don't have qualms with how he presents the origins and evolution of neoconservatism as a worldview over the last couple centuries. I also appreciate his willingness to embrace the view (including its label), rather than shy away from it while still tacitly accepting its substantive elements. Where we disagree is the value-judgements we make of such a worldview, as well as the outcomes it's brought to the world when wielded by policymakers in the West/U.S. The destruction wrought by the war in Iraq, the starkness between this disaster and the predictions and promises breathlessly foretold by neocon policymakers, and the subsequent demographic and global destabilization that massive, untrammeled foreign intervention has set off should convince any observer that the ideas presented by Murray have had their go at it, and it was a terrible go. Fortunately in the U.S., public opinion appears to have neutered neocons as a force for policymaking (as well as their ability to wage another open-ended war on any number of nations).To any honest reader of Murray's book, the harmful outcomes of this worldview are obvious to expect. Since the industrial revolution, the West (namely Western Europe and the U.S.) has wielded immense economic and technological power, and in times of war, has usually misdirected this power to extremely disastrous ends (take Hitler and Mussolini, two figures that've caused some of the greatest destruction and death the world has ever known, and both of whom were at the heart of Western Civilization at a high point in its productive capacity). Yes, the West has led the world in terms of living standards and economic growth, which have served as soil for some of the greatest cultural and personal empowerment the world has ever seen. And I agree with Murray that there are many beautiful things about Western culture that should be preserved and emulated (namely the improved position of women in society, the separation of church and state, the promotion of cultural and religious pluralism). I also agree in the existence of an objective set of moral values, and share his distaste of nihilistic, reflexively pessimistic thinkers on the left. But the ability of Western states to wage war on a massive, world-ending scale reinforces the importance of a set of strong international norms that govern the actions of nations. Another prominent idea of the West that needs its due is the right of nations to self-determination. Self-determination includes freedom from arbitrary involvement and attacks from other more powerful nations, whether in the form of invasions, assassinations, propaganda campaigns, or cyberattacks. By supporting massive blunders in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen (to name just a few recent countries), Murray not only approves of open-ended waste and destruction without effective oversight; he also fulfills the narratives of some of the most cynical leftists, who continue to highlight the atrocities of our foreign campaigns in grim detail. From my perspective as a U.S. citizen, the vast, opaque, unaccountable influence of military institutions throughout the world, backed up by unconditional support from a civilian populace preoccupied with mounting domestic problems, is a recipe for the destruction of Western society and values. You reap what you sow, and in order to sow seeds that will grow into more fruitful outcomes for posterity, we need to focus on internal problems before we try to remake the world in our image.On a closing note, if Murray is frightened at the specter of Islamic Fundamentalism pouring into the borders of Europe, he and his neoconservative friends should probably also consider another massive threat to national security and sovereignty: climate change.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Well Researched and Intellectually Satisfying.
  

*by C***S on Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2009*

Murray does an excellent job of demonstrating the broad foundational conceptions of the ideology by virtue of historical chronology, philosophical application, and the political implications involved. He also discusses at great length the esoteric nature of the ideology in relation to the popular misconceptions of it which are pervasive. Neoconservatism offers a dynamic, cohesive, and comprehensive vision for the future that is premised out of the realities of the modern era, and the eternal rights which were self-evident to the founding fathers of America. Unlike mainstream conservatism, neoconservatism is not fixated on the politics of nostalgia but is in contrast almost entirely focused on the future, and has a captivating, intellective, as well as convincing vision for it. Perhaps the most appealing aspect of neoconservatism is the intellectual diversity within the ideology that is only binded together by a broad set of principles that all neoconservatives agree upon.A criticism would be that Murray only briefly touches upon the famed 'New York Intellectuals' which Irving Kristol was a part of, and never directly mentions them specifically from what I can remember. Additionally, Murray could have spent more time discussing the intellectual evolution of Kristol from his original far-left ideological predilections, which were predominant early in his life.

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*Last updated: 2026-02-21*