Touchy, Touchy

Jonah Goldberg has a very thin skin. But there are only so many hours in the day and it's primary season and a discourse on the fascistic tendencies of left-liberalism in the early twentieth century is not that urgent a topic. I promise I'll read the thing. And yes, of course, every author is envious of another author's success. And I'm actually sympathetic to the notion of fascism's leftist origins. Sounds about right to me. But airing a few obvious rejoinders is not exactly a mortal sin.

Meanwhile, I have a new book coming out! Alas, it isn't called anything as catchy as "Liberal Fascism." In fact, it's called

Intimations Pursued: The Voice Of Practice In The Conversation Of Michael Oakeshott.

While stocks last, heh. Actually, the burgeoning (okay, you need some context for that adjective) field of Oakeshott scholarship has spawned new interest in publications about the great man's thinking. This book is my doctoral dissertation - eighteen years on. It's about Oakeshott's grappling with the philosophical place of practical wisdom within his own world of ideas. Only the third dissertation ever written on Oakeshott, and relying only on the work he authorized to be published, it's now available for pre-order.

In his time and place, few dedicated themselves more thoroughly to the debunking of state power and the pretensions of liberal rationalism than Oakeshott. And he wasn't doing it to make a buck either. If you're interested in a very close reading of many of his more obscure writings, this book is for you!