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Rating: 
Summary: A Conservative Reader's Encyclopedia
Review: As far as I know, this is the only book of its kind. There are books of quotations (Right Thinking), anthologies (The Portable Conservative Reader), and histories (The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America), but nothing else which does what this book's subtitle describes.The editor, Brad Miner, is a former literary editor at National Review and has based his book on Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia, a popular reference book for literary and cultural matters. He has included terms, authors, a few historical essays, a top ten book list, an extensive bibliography, and his own attempt to outline the principles of conservatism. Each entry contains items which are underlined if they are referred to elsewhere in the text, like hypertext links on a web page. The entry ends with a relevant quotation and suggestions for further reading. In keeping with the notion of an encyclopedia, Miner has chosen to be accurate rather than opinionated. This is reasoned, thoughtful conservatism, not the firebrand of talk radio. Miner begins his survey in the 1800s, with Edmund Burke, in itself a sign of deep reading. Not everyone appreciates the origin and intellectual roots of conservatism as Miner does. I also applaud his recognition of the importance of Russell Kirk to the formation and development of the modern conservative movement. This small gem is a handy reference book for various matters related to conservatism. As a one-volume sourebook for further reading, it is unsurpassed. It belongs on the shelves of school libraries, public libraries, and of anyone with even a passing interest in politics or intellectual history.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing in scope and design!
Review: Brad Miner has put together the most readable encyclopaedia I've ever come across. This is so informative and interesting that I went cover to cover in no time. Brilliant reference material, I can see how invaluable this book will be in supporting intellectual inquiry. Where Mr. Miner outdoes himself though, is the quotes that sum up each entry, quite astounding in its concise summation, and really hits the nail on the head for some of the most important concepts - it's just one of many that I loved, but check out the quote for T.S Eliot from his Ash Wednesday (1930): "If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent/If the unheard, unspoken/Word is unspoken, unheard;/Still is the unspoken word, the Word unheard/The Word without a word, the Word within/The world and for the world;/And the light shone in the darkness and/Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled/About the centre of the silent Word."
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