Frohnen on Carey
First Principles, the ISI Web Journal, has put up Bruce Frohnen’s introduction to a new collection of essays on George Carey. Frohnen’s piece is a good overview of the Careyweltanschauung. He provides an brief outline of Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition, written with Willmoore Kendall, an essential work on how America’s understanding of its foundational commitments has dramatically changed from colonial times to the present. He also discusses Carey’s importance as an expositor of The Federalist, and finally discusses Carey’s legacy in general:
Unconcerned with intellectual fashions or the trappings of academic success, Carey has refused either to be a part of any “school” of thought or to attempt to forge one of his own. And he has steadfastly refused to engage in the gamesmanship that so pervades the contemporary academy. As a result, his work is less well known than it should be outside that rather narrow circle of those academics and laymen who are open to nonideological discussion of human nature, constitutional order, and the American political tradition. Within this circle, however, his impact has been profound. Over the course of his career, Carey has produced a significant body of work that stands on its own merits—and that will so stand for generations to come. Indeed, his work establishes him as one of the preeminent interpreters of the nature and history of the American experiment in ordered liberty and self-government. …
This book is intended as a testimonial to Carey’s importance as both a scholar and a teacher. Through his teaching and research, George Carey has sought to educate young and old alike on the nature and importance of the American political tradition. He has stressed the need to recover that tradition, or at least honor it through patient study rather than destroying what is left of it through self-indulgent attempts at revolution or utopian efforts to remake the world in our own image. As anyone who has conversed with him regarding topics of the day will know, he approaches all subjects of public import from the same vantage point: that of a deep concern for moral conduct that is consistent with the requirements of the fundamental institutions, beliefs, and practices constituting the American tradition. He has pursued a good life through his family, his passionate love of good music, his hard, careful scholarly work, and the personal and professional conduct befitting a man of kindness, courage, and principle. Showing what it means to be both a gentleman and a scholar, he has provided a model through which we can understand something of the moorings and nature of right conduct.
Sounds like a great stocking stuffer!
Full disclosure: I once took one of Frohnen’s classes on the Constitution and it was awesome!
December 11th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Is that a hint?