The Great Purge: The Deformation of the Conservative Movement

A central crucible in the evolution of the American Right has been "the purge"-that is, the expulsion, often in an explicit fashion, of views or individuals deemed outside the bounds of "respectability." Victims include the John Birch Society, Peter Brimelow, John Derbyshire, Sam Francis, Revilo P. Oliver, Murray Rothbard, foreign-policy makers deemed "isolationists," immigration reformers, and many others. This essay collection is an attempt to better understand conservative ideology (often euphemized as "timeless principles") and how it functioned within its historic context and responded to power, shifting conceptions of authority, and societal changes. Through the purges, we can glimpse what conservatism is not, those aspects of itself it has attempted to deny, mask, leave behind, and forget, and the ways in which memories can be reconstructed around new orthodoxies. Contributors include Peter Brimelow, Lee Congdon, John Derbyshire, Samuel T. Francis, Paul Gottfried, James Kalb, Keith Preston, William Regnery, and Richard Spencer.