cover image Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America, 1950-1985

Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America, 1950-1985

Patrick Allitt. Cornell University Press, $35 (315pp) ISBN 978-0-8014-2295-9

In this insightful study, Allitt, who teaches history at Emory University in Georgia, explores the role of Catholic intellectual thought in the development of the political conservatism dominant in American politics during the 1980s. He examines the contributions of such Catholic lay intellectuals as Clare Booth Luce, William F. Buckley, Jr. and Michael Novak, noting that the positions of many were shaped and modified by changes in the Church following the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). While tracing ideological shifts among proponents of conservatism, Allitt describes a parallel fragmentation among all Catholics over such issues as civil rights, family roles and church authority. In documenting a complex range of intellectual views on such sensitive topics as birth control, Allitt makes an important contribution to the annals of American pluralism. Photos. (Nov.)