Russell Kirk and the Birth of the Conservative Mind

So Russell Kirk, I think, is not as well known as he was, say, 40 years ago, 50 years ago, because he's not writing for popular outlets anymore, obviously.

So I think he's known as a scholar.

So people are reading his work, his books and so forth.

But I think he's less of a household name than when he was working in the 70s and the 80s.

in the 60s.

But for those of you who don't know who Russell Kirk is, he was a historian, kind of political thinker, literary figure, and he interacted with a lot of people that you would know.

So he interacted with Friedrich Hayek at some different times, Leo Strauss.

He interacted with or corresponded with Ray Bradbury, the science fiction author, T.S. Eliot.

Mm-hmm.

So he was involved in a lot of conversations.

He was known and doing all of this.

He was certainly involved in the Goldwater campaign and National Review a little bit.

Yeah, we can talk about whether he was in the background a little bit.

Of course, he was good friends with William F. Buckley and National Review.

So he was involved in a lot of different kinds of conversations, parts of the conservative movement, all from a little town in Michigan called Mecosta, where we are right now.

So I'm joined by my friend Jeff Nelson, who has spent decades studying ideas, talking about conservatism.

He was at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute for many, many years, and he currently is the director of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal.

So we're going to talk about that some.

But Jeff, thank you for joining me for this conversation.