Including representative journals for the 20th and late 19th centuries, this book profiles the most significant conservative journals of the past century. From the rise of industrial capitalism, when laissez-faire conservatives praised bountiful America, to the end of the Cold War, these journals have covered a variety of topics from differing, sometimes even contradictory, points of view. Yet they speak to the richness and comprehensiveness of the conservative press in America. Together they provide a focused history of conservative thought in 20th Century America. Along with the companion volume on the 18th and 19th Centuries, the book provides a valuable resource for students of the conservative press in America.

Covering a variety of disparate journals, the volume arranges them both chronologically and in sections reflecting the themes covered. Politics, individualism, isolationism, anti-Communism, the New Right, neoconservatism, and public policy are featured in four of the sections, while journals examining the issues of religious conservatism appear in sections devoted to Orthodox Protestant and Catholic journals. Yet another section focuses on journals dealing with literary and cultural topics. The remaining sections examine libertarianism, traditionalist perspectives, and extreme right-wing publications. Each section is unified with an introductory essay exploring the connecting themes and issues.

Selecting journals that speak for a very large number of topics addressed by the conservative press, this volume profiles selected conservative journals published since 1787. The conservative press has scarcely spoken with a single voice, whether the topics treated or even the time inhabited are the same or different. Yet, these journals testify to the persistent vigor and importance of conservatism. Together they provide a focused survey of the history of American conservative thought from the late 18th Century to the late 19th Century. Along with the companion volume covering the 20th Century conservative press, the book provides an important resource on conservative thought in America.

Despite the disparities in conservative intellectual thought, the journals covered, even the more idiosyncratic and extreme, are connected by their core values of conservatism. The book is organized into sections reflecting these connections. The first section covers journals associated with Federal, Whig, or, in the Civil War era, Northern Democratic political interests. A later section includes journals sharing an attachment to Southern conservative values during the antebellum and Reconstruction periods. Two sections deal, respectively, with 19th Century Orthodox Protestant periodicals and 19th Century Catholic and Episcopal journals, and yet another section discusses journals united by a major focus on literary topics and cultural connections.