Hello John,

Any year is a good year to review the foundational principles of American conservatism, with a view toward applying them in our lives and politics. An election year is an especially good time to do so, as remote as principles might seem from the heat of political rhetoric.

To that purpose, the Kirk Center welcomes Dr. Jason Jewell to lead a webinar on Russell Kirk’s “Ten Conservative Principles.” This webinar is part of a handful of pilots that we are hosting in anticipation of the official launch of the School of Conservative Studies in the fall of 2025. Dr. Jewell is an experienced guide to Kirk’s thought and an engaging teacher. And you might like to know that Kirk’s essay, “Ten Conservative Principles,” is the most accessed page on our website. 

This will be a popular topic so I encourage you to sign up and invite a wide range of your family and friends to do likewise. The webinar will be held on Tuesday, October 22, at 7 p.m. (Eastern) and you may register at this link. It will be a helpful overview of traditional conservative beliefs so feel free to share the link in your networks or on social media.

Speaking about the relationship between conservative principles and politics, I was surprised to hear this new podcast by two Michigan political leaders engaging in a discussion of Kirk’s thought and its influence on their understanding of conservative right reason and reform.

These are young and promising elected officials and it is heartening to hear State Senator Thomas Albert and Representative Brad Paquette describe how a Facebook post asking for information on Edmund Burke led them to the Kirk Center. Their initiative resulted in a series of conferences at the Kirk Center. As Senator Albert put it: “Kirk took ideas that I had and put them in a framework that I was able to relate to my legislative work.”

I hope you enjoy this podcast.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Kirk’s popular book The Roots of American Order. The University Bookman published an excellent symposium on it by some of those who have frequently drawn upon the book for teaching and lecturing.

Written in 1974, a year of turmoil in the U.S., Kirk wrote in response to the “need to renew our understanding of the beliefs and the laws which give form to American society.” This need has resurfaced and mutated in recent years, as the symposium contributors examine and attempt to redress. Read entries in our symposium here.

Speaking of the Bookman, last week we announced the one-and-only campaign to help support this valuable publication this year. If you enjoy good book reviews and the ways in which that kind of writing can have an outsized influence on culture over time, then please consider helping the journal meet its essential expenses. 

The Bookman campaign seeks to raise $20,000 to cover direct expenses through the spring of 2025. For an update on the amount raised to date and to donate without platform fees, please see this landing page. Thanks in advance for your consideration!

Towards the conclusion of the campaign, the Book Gallery will host a webinar on Kirk’s fiction with James Panero, executive editor of The New Criterion, and screenwriter Adam Simon on October 29 at 6 p.m. We hope to have a special recording of a Kirk short story to share at that time, so mark your calendar for this enjoyable evening.

"The Constitutionalist" podcast interviewed Michael Lucchese about Russell Kirk’s conservatism. The Constitutionalist is hosted by Shane Leary, a graduate student at Baylor University, and his professor, Dr. Benjamin Kleinerman, R.W. Morrison Professor of Political Science at Baylor University and founder and editor of the Constitutionalist Blog. Both Shane and Michael participated in seminars at the Kirk Center last year and are among the brightest and best read of their generation. That fact is on display in this podcast.

As always, thank you for reading and for your support of the Kirk Center. Your prayers and partnership in our work of enlivening the permanent things make all the difference. 

Sincerely,