The Conservative Sensibility

By: George F. Will

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

Length: 24 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist's "astonishing" and "enthralling" New York Times best seller and Notable Book about how the Founders' belief in natural rights created a great American political tradition (Booklist) - "easily one of the best books on American Conservatism ever written" (Jonah Goldberg).

For more than four decades, George F. Will has attempted to discern the principles of the Western political tradition and apply them to America's civic life. Today, the stakes could hardly be higher. Vital questions about the nature of man, of rights, of equality, of majority rule are bubbling just beneath the surface of daily events in America.

The Founders' vision, articulated first in the Declaration of Independence and carried out in the Constitution, gave the new republic a framework for government unique in world history. Their beliefs in natural rights, limited government, religious freedom, and in human virtue and dignity ushered in two centuries of American prosperity. Now, as Will shows, conservatism is under threat - both from progressives and elements inside the Republican Party. America has become an administrative state, while destructive trends have overtaken family life and higher education. Semi-autonomous executive agencies wield essentially unaccountable power. Congress has failed in its duty to exercise its legislative powers. And the executive branch has slipped the Constitution's leash.

In the intellectual battle between the vision of Founding Fathers like James Madison, who advanced the notion of natural rights that pre-exist government, and the progressivism advanced by Woodrow Wilson, the Founders have been losing. It's time to reverse America's political fortunes.

Expansive, intellectually thrilling, and written with the erudite wit that has made Will beloved by millions, The Conservative Sensibility is an extraordinary new book from one of America's most celebrated political writers.

©2019 George F. Will (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"A thoughtful, elegant reflection on American conservatism and the Founders' political thought."—The Atlantic

The Conservative Sensibility is George Will's definitive declaration.... Admirers of Will - I plead guilty - now have what amounts to a definitive statement, a summation of his remarkable career in journalism and politics.... A deep and sustained reflection on American conservatism.... There is nothing worse than a predictable columnist, and Will is anything but predictable. One reads him not only for his prose but also for the chance to observe a great and restless intellect.... Here, then, is George Will's task: to remind Americans of our unique heritage by connecting present debates and public figures to our nation's fundamental ideas, disagreements, problems, and statesmen..... Such is the education that awaits the reader of this beautiful, graceful, profound book."—Matthew Continetti, National Review

"[A] magnum opus..... Will still beats all his rivals in his ability to combine high thinking with a shrewd capacity to understand day-to-day American politics.... It is hard to think of any of today's angry young "movement" conservatives surviving in journalism for fifty years, as Mr. Will has, and still having enough to say to produce a big book at 78."—The Economist

Essential Reading

Mr. Will is such a great thinker and word Smith. I will be listening to this book again.

Conservativism explained and in practice

George Will does a good job of explaining conservatism in this book. He gets into a substantial amount of analysis and thought on the subject here. George explores what it has meant to be a conservative in the past and what it should mean today.

George goes back to the founders of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence and explains natural rights, how the founders wanted them in the Constitution, and how individual rights would never be inferior to government. In my opinion, the book is a peek into the intellectual architecture that makes up the ideology of conservatism. He talks about majority rule and minority opposition as well and it's context within the Constitution.

I don't want to debate George here... and without getting into in too deep, I can say my only real issue with the book is that there doesn't seem to be any wiggle room on his belief of conservatism. However; if you have read George before then you are not surprised he's binary on the subject.

Can't I believe in natural rights but also believe there's a benefit to having a progressive working government that doesn't interfere with my liberty? What if I believe in capitalism and small government but I also think regulations are sometimes needed for a healthy market? What if I believe in small government but I don't think you should cut funding to programs to the point where government doesn't work right? I just think there's room for some gray in George's world of black and white while still considering yourself a conservative.

I definitely recommend to those who want to know what it means to be a conservative, in the past and moving forward to today. While I didn't agree with George on everything and I thought he needed to be debated here and there, I very much enjoyed the book and it was very educational. George's analysis was a historical look at conservatism as well as a few insightful thoughts on what it means to be conservative today.

If you are looking for George's analysis of today's Republican party compared to conservatism of yesterday, you won't find it in this book in any real form. If you're looking for an eloquent dissection of what a conservative was and should be... look no farther.

Book was well narrated and is a "must have" for political junkies.

A Biased Reading on Amer. Pol/Hist but Good Anyhow

The Conservative Sensibility, written by George F. Will, and narrated by Peter Ganim. This short review, I fear, will sound as if it is a complete negative. I mean to recommend the work, not debase it (but speak much like Brutus). I do not praise this dissertation as an essential work but rather only one recommended for any student of political science as an historic view of political philosophies and trends since the origin of the American experiment. In Conservative Sensibility, Mr. Will takes us through various subject areas where he considers either progressive or conservative influence on the era or movements of the American experiment. For example, he provides comment on his understanding of the thinking of the founders, the origin of liberalism (during the T. Roosevelt and W. Wilson era) the loss of control over the responsibility of the Congress, the growth of the presidency, etc. In that his writings are insightful, if one can accept his prejudice for conservatism and refusal to allocate anything but incarnate evil to any historical act of our government that has a progressive tint.

Mr. Will has no negative words for even the most beastie of republican degradations and no good word for progressive undertakings. For example, he shouts about liberalism’s failure in the Johnson presidency and the Vietnam War and has nothing to mention of the George W. Bush presidency and the Iraq War. Another example occurs when describing the judiciary, he states without explanation, the republicans (all of them) grant the Constitution’s inalienable rights before government while progressives believe those rights come only after the institution of government. That is political theory prejudice. On the distortion of presidential power (its growth) he does not blame any republican president or Congress but damns the democratic presidents and Congresses for the increase in presidential power as enabled by the legislature’s acts over the last 100 years. In the courts, the segregationist philosophy of Plessy v Ferguson was progressive, while Brown v. Board of Education was conservatism. Really? Methinks this brilliant man is stoking the flames of partisan hate rather than bringing us back to the days of the campaign in a binary manner but govern thereafter for the Union.

Yet, on the other side of the coin, Mr. Will excoriates the Justices who argue for originalism in interpreting the Constitution. (Originalists want the Constitution to mean only what was actually stated and then further limited by reading what it says in terms of 1789 and not including any thoughts about society’s modernization.) Another intriguing argument is Mr. Will warnings against pure majority rule. The vote of the people, according to Mr. Will can become warns that the will of the majority may endanger the rights of the minority which in itself would create and injustice.

I am a political scientist and have no preference between conservative solutions and progressive ointments. From the Constitutional Convention days of 1789 to the present there has always been a debate between one track or the other; a liberal pathway versus a more conservative bend. Sometimes one has done us well and the other not. Neither conservatism nor liberalism is God-given. George Will’s very well written survey and conservative comment are bestial because he can only see good in conservatism even when it lives in shame, and can never say a positive work on any political philosophy that engifts the downtrodden.

I want conservatism in our politics. I want liberalism as well. I want them to negotiate and compromise. I do not need vehemence against the other very established political conceptualization. We need the best from each; together, in symbiotic rhythm.

This is why the conservative philosophy if failing. It seeks only to praise itself and never to examine its effect on the overall results. P.S. According to Mr. Will, the republicans have had nothing to do with the budget deficit. It's all democrats. You will find three dozen or more such distortions in the reading. On the other hand, he has a magnificent chapter on the growth of the administrative state. How it distorts the Madisonian system that has provided us with a successful form of government and how it is now in jeopardy. With this in mind, still a good read on reviewing the conservative versus a liberal history of our nation, their core phytophiles and institutions – but only for the well educated and serious political scientists amongst us. Otherwise a distortion and bore of a work.

Beautifully crafted

Whether you agree or disagree with George Will's premises you must find the book intriguing.

An Excellent Excursion From US Founders to Today

“A Conservative Sensibility” is an excellent in-depth excursion from the founders’ vision of the United States to the current perspective of US politics and Government. This is a must read for anyone who is wondering how today’s Government is compared to the ideals and visions of the founders of the US and maybe a glimpse of where we might be headed. The author has provided an excellent bibliography to assist the reader for further avenues to peruse. A must read. Experienced as an Audio Book

Thoughtful amalgam of a life’s work

George will, I’ve not followed for long, seems to be a useful contributor to the story of Conservatism in the United States. His historical analysis seems well tied to a conservative worldview which has been informed by years of tireless contemplation and research. If only he had put aside his animus towards the religious predilections of our forefathers , this book would warrant 5 stars. It seems as though in one breath he chided those who have a religious axe to grind and with the very next, reveals his own implement of woodcutting and grinds away to the tune of enlightenment atheist humanism. His course here would have been better served to build a larger tent by laying out the reasons atheists find a comfortable home within conservatism and alongside their religious brethren. Nevertheless, it will remain on my shelf, digital and otherwise.

Great book, let’s get back there!

Awesome book every voting American should read, particularly like the chapters on American governments shift from negative rights to positive rights.

Exceptional book

Wonderful book. Edifying though easy to follow and understand. Really enjoyed the Audio version and will read the book as well to reinforce my understanding.

Erudite and thought-provoking

This committed liberal came away with a lot to think about after reading this trenchant apologia of the conservative point of view. We'll never met an aphorism he didn't like and at the end of the day rationalizes the white patriarchy but he does so genially. The American political right doesn't deserve such an eloquent advocate. Will restores rhetoric which has been deprecated to its proper esteem as defined by the power to prove, please, and in the case of this reader, just about almost persuade

Brilliant in Every Way: Liberty Sweet Liberty

If ever you should read a book to inspire a love of Liberty, history and the life and death efforts of our immediate ancestors to free all individuals from the tyranny of divine rights of kings and kingdoms, this is the time and the book. Do not let a prejudice against the word
“conservative” scare you away, for what you would consider the opposite of conservative is not liberal in this magnificent history of the founding, via two inextricably linked documents, of the greatest experiment in human thriving ever undertaken by an oppressed people. It will make you fall in love with the importance of studying history, with all its warts. Thank you! George F Will