For traditionalists, the conservative ascendency of the 1980s turned out to be a major disappointment. With the triumph of multiculturalism and political correctness, liberalism seemed to move from strength to strength. Still, a stout number of southern conservative writers plunged forward, and their themes of populism, immigration, and cultural integrity are seeing a contemporary resurgence. Discussing a wide array of authors who worked in a variety of genres, Joseph Scotchie celebrates those unreconstructed champions who fought the culture wars of their times with a special learning and vigor. Also included in this collection are creative artists who kept the flame of literature alive, providing visions of possibilities that only genre can provide.

About the Author
Joseph Scotchie is the author or editor of eight books, including The Vision of Richard Weaver, Barbarians in the Saddle, The Paleoconservatives, and Revolt from the Heartland. His work has won awards from the New York State Press Association and the North Carolina Society of Historians. A graduate of both the University of North Carolina at Asheville and the City College of New York, Scotchie has worked for three decades as a journalist in the New York City area.

Reviews

PRAISE FOR WRITING ON THE SOUTHERN FRONT

For a quarter of a century, Joseph Scotchie has been a thoughtful interpreter of the Southern agrarian literary tradition and its shirt-tail political cousin, paleoconservatism. These essays, whose subjects range widely from Pat Buchanan to Robert E. Lee, and from Saul Bellow to Scotchie's beloved Asheville homeboy Thomas Wolfe, are both provocative and welcome.

Bill Kauffman, Author of Ain't My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle American Anti-Imperialism

A generation of Americans deprived of intellectual substance and force-fed flavorless cant can look to the living Southern tradition, thoroughly and masterfully introduced and explicated in Joseph Scotchie's Writing on the Southern Front, for sustenance and inspiration. Readers familiar with some of the writers Scotchie fearlessly treats will benefit from seeing them in their powerful and broad context; the uninitiated will delight in the discovery of works on American history, culture, and politics previously withheld from them by an understandably fearful left.

Aaron D. Wolf, Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture

PRAISE FOR JOSEPH SCOTCHIE'S EARLIER WORK

For Barbarians in the Saddle

We owe Mr. Scotchie thanks for bringing [Richard Weaver] once more to our attention. I would particularly recommend this book to young conservatives who may not know there was a time when conservative ideas - real ideas, not just futuristic slogans, ideological dogmas and talk-show polemics - were at the heart of American conservatism.

William F. Gavin, The Washington Times

For The Paleoconservatives

The great, the consuming virtue of The Paleoconservatives is the meticulous attention its contributors pay to how we should live and what we should believe: what ideas we could - gulp - offer to die for. Not a few of these essays are exhilarating. All are challenging, Bravo, Scotchie, I would say. Bravo, the well-placed, literate concern for intelligence and dignity and honor and freedom.

William Murchison, Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture

For Thomas Wolfe Revisited

If, as Mr. Scotchie avers, American college students no longer read great novels, his book should go a long way to encouraging them to re-open the novels of Thomas Wolfe, one of the giants of American literature.

Eileen Brennan, The Manhasset (NY) Press

For Revolt from the Heartland

This book ... is the best little concise history of principled conservatism I have seen. I was not able to put it down, reading it all in one sitting.

Nat Rudulph, Southern Events

[Scotchie] has given us ... an essential and valuable contribution to American intellectual history in the last decade of the last century.

Samuel Francis, The American Conservative

For Street Corner Conservative

Scotchie's biography is a comprehensive treatment of the most compelling life story of the past 50 years within conservative ranks, surpassing even that of [Pat Buchanan's] idol, Ronald Reagan.

J.W. Moses, South Carolina Review

For A Gallery of Ashevilleans

Joe Scotchie's history of Asheville personalities is both a labor of love and an exhibit of unique knowledge and perspective. Every city should have a book like this - but then, not every city is as interesting as Asheville.

Clyde N. Wilson, University of South Carolina

PRAISE FOR WRITING ON THE SOUTHERN FRONT

For a quarter of a century, Joseph Scotchie has been a thoughtful interpreter of the Southern agrarian literary tradition and its shirt-tail political cousin, paleoconservatism. These essays, whose subjects range widely from Pat Buchanan to Robert E. Lee, and from Saul Bellow to Scotchie's beloved Asheville homeboy Thomas Wolfe, are both provocative and welcome.

Bill Kauffman, Author of Ain't My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle American Anti-Imperialism

A generation of Americans deprived of intellectual substance and force-fed flavorless cant can look to the living Southern tradition, thoroughly and masterly introduced and explicated in Joseph Scotchie's Writing on the Southern Front, for sustenance and inspiration. Readers familiar with some of the writers Scotchie fearlessly treats will benefit from seeing them in their powerful and broad context; the uninitiated will delight in the discovery of works on American history, culture, and politics previously withheld from them by an understandably fearful left.

Aaron D. Wolf, Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture

PRAISE FOR JOSEPH SCOTCHIE'S EARLIER WORK

For Barbarians In The Saddle

We owe Mr. Scotchie thanks for bringing [Richard Weaver] once more to our attention. I would particularly recommend this book to young conservatives who may not know there was a time when conservative ideas - real ideas, not just futuristic slogans, ideological dogmas and talk-show polemics - were at the heart of American conservatism.

William F. Gavin, The Washington Times

For The Paleoconservatives

The great, the consuming virtue of The Paleoconservatives is the meticulous attention its contributors pay to how we should live and what we should believe: what ideas we could - gulp - offer to die for. Not a few of these essays are exhilarating. All are challenging, Bravo, Scotchie, I would say. Bravo, the well-placed, literate concern for intelligence and dignity and honor and freedom.

William Murchison, Chronicles

For Thomas Wolfe Revisited

If, as Mr. Scotchie avers, American college students no longer read great novels, his book should go a long way to encouraging them to re-open the novels of Thomas Wolfe, one of the giants of American literature.

Eileen Brennan, The Manhasset (NY) Press

For Revolt From the Heartland

This book ... is the best little concise history of principled conservatism I have seen. I was not able to put it down, reading it all in one sitting.

Nat Rudulph, Southern Events

[Scotchie] has given us ... an essential and valuable contribution to American intellectual history in the last decade of the last century.

Samuel Francis, The American Conservative

For Street Corner Conservative

Scotchie's biography is a comprehensive treatment of the most compelling life story of the past 50 years within conservative ranks, surpassing even that of [Pat Buchanan's] idol, Ronald Reagan.

J.W. Moses, South Carolina Review

For A Gallery of Ashevilleans

Joe Scotchie's history of Asheville personalities is both a labor of love and an exhibit of unique knowledge and perspective. Every city should have a book like this - but then, not every city is as interesting as Asheville.

Clyde N. Wilson, University of South Carolina

Book Information
ISBN 9781138300927
Author Joseph Scotchie
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 272g