New in Journal of American History: Round Table on Conservatism

The new issue of the Journal of American History (Dec. 2011) includes a round table on "Conservatism" that may be of interest to some of our readers, particularly those who write about the postwar Supreme Court. The abstract is below and the issue is available online to subscribers.

In recent years there has been a remarkable expansion of historical scholarship on twentieth-century American conservatism. This new literature comprises a rich and exciting body of work, one that is in direct dialogue with developments in contemporary U.S. politics. Kim Phillips-Fein offers an assessment of the state of the field, suggesting an evolution away from writing about conservatism as a “backlash” against the 1960s and toward seeing it as a political movement gaining strength over the entire postwar period. She outlines how the new scholarship on conservatism might alter how we teach the narrative of the twentieth century, and she suggests some of the interpretive questions that remain about the place of conservatism in American history. Following Phillips-Fein’s article, the conservatism scholars Alan Brinkley, Donald T. Critchlow, Martin Durham, Matthew D. Lassiter, Wilfred M. McClay, and Lisa McGirr offer perspectives on the state of the field.