The Man Who Invented Conservatism - by Daniel J Flynn (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"This is, simply put, the best biography I have read in years."

--The Spectator World

Frank Meyer devised the blueprint for American conservatism--fusionism--championed by Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and so many to this day. Yet long before and far away, Communists in London chanted "Free Frank Meyer!" to block the deportation of a comrade who was their cause célèbre. Those fervent Marxists could never have predicted that their hero would one day provide the intellectual energy necessary to propel conservatives to political power.

The Man Who Invented Conservatism unveils one of the twentieth century's great untold stories: a Communist turned conservative, an antiwar activist turned soldier, and a free-love enthusiast turned family man whose big idea captured the American Right. This intellectual migration coincided with a clandestine affair inside 10 Downing Street, service as a lieutenant to the man who later constructed the Berlin Wall, and neighborly chats with the pop-star and poet celebrity next door. Present at the creation of National Review, Meyer helped launch Joan Didion's writing career. From H. G. Wells to Henry Kissinger to Milton Friedman, he rubbed shoulders with everyone who mattered.

Having discovered Meyer's previously unexamined correspondence in an old soda warehouse, Daniel J. Flynn documents this saga in The Man Who Invented Conservatism, exposing the rivalries, jealousies, friendships, and fights that shaped the movement and what it means to be a conservative today.

Review Quotes

"This is, simply put, the best biography I have read in years."

--The Spectator World

"...a wise book about an important and overlooked American journalist and intellectual... Frank Meyer may not have invented conservatism, but Mr. Flynn's book illustrates that he reinvented it--and shows that it can be reinvented again."

--Christopher J. Scalia, The Wall Street Journal

"Politically correct literary historians have denied Meyer the legacy he richly deserves. Daniel J. Flynn sets the record straight."

--The Free Press

"Frank Meyer's long march across the political spectrum, from left to right, culminated with him creating 'fusionism, ' a history-making contribution to the triumph of postwar conservatism. Daniel Flynn tells this story with the verve it deserves."

--George F. Will, syndicated columnist and author of The Conservative Sensibility

"I knew Frank Meyer. Dan Flynn captures him in this exhaustively researched biography. The trove of documents he found rewrites the story of the American Right. This book tells that amazing story."

--R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., founder of The American Spectator

"Daniel Flynn has exceeded all expectations by producing a genuine page-turner that unearths fascinating anecdotes and insights into Frank S. Meyer's influence on every page. The Man Who Invented Conservatism is a work of intellectual history of the highest order."

--Mollie Hemingway, Fox News contributor and editor-in-chief of The Federalist

"Frank S. Meyer led a turbulent American life. A fanatical Communist firebrand in his youth, and a tenacious libertarian by middle age, he became in the 1960s the chief theoretician and advocate of the fusionist conservatism associated with National Review. Daniel J. Flynn has produced a riveting account of Meyer's journey and an illuminating addition to the historiography of American conservatism."

--George H. Nash, author of The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945

"[Meyer's] influence...has spread far beyond his recognition, a fact that Flynn's book helps us see, but it may also help remedy."

--Fusion

"Although Meyer's writings have received plenty of attention in histories of conservatism, his life has received much less. In The Man Who Invented Conservatism, Daniel J. Flynn sets out to correct the imbalance...Flynn's excellent book has given Meyer's life the attention it deserves."

--The Dispatch

"...in his remarkable conspectus of Meyer's life, Flynn ensures that his pivotal role in reinventing conservatism does not go unappreciated or forgotten."

--The American Conservative

"We're in Daniel Flynn's debt for recovering the life and legacy of a man who, in the age of ideological confusion, never stopped believing that ideas could shape history, for good or ill."

--Civitas Outlook

"The Man Who Invented Conservatism is an impressively investigated and superbly written biography...As unlikely as Meyer's life was, it is also unlikely that another biography will top Flynn's splendid portrayal of the cultural warrior who journeyed with supreme optimism to the side he thought could and would win."

--The University Bookman

"There is no understanding postwar American conservatism without understanding Frank Meyer, and the achievement of Flynn's book is that he comprehensively proves why this is the case."

--Religion & Liberty Online

"...an intellectually scintillating and crisply written new biography of Meyer...You cannot fully understand the modern conservative movement without learning about Frank Meyer and reading Daniel Flynn's splendid book."

--The American Spectator

"Mr. Flynn's book The Man Who Invented Conservatism offers fresh revelations about Meyer."

--The Washington Times

"Here's hoping that The Man Who Invented Conservatism gets the readership it deserves."

-- Independent Institute

"Daniel J. Flynn, a senior editor at the American Spectator whose past books have sweepingly portrayed recent American political history, marshals considerable skill in service of a daring thesis in The Man Who Invented Conservatism...Flynn has placed it beyond dispute that the conservative movement, in thought and in deed, could not exist without him."

--National Review

"Political commentator and American Spectator editor Daniel Flynn's excellent biography of the late Frank S. Meyer arrives at an opportune time for conservatives."

--The Federalist