Hello John,

Who was “the man who invented conservatism”?

Frank S. Meyer, who brought libertarianism and traditionalism together in a philosophy critics dubbed “fusionism," lays a claim to that title. His life is a tale full of twists straight out of a spy novel. Until now, the whole story has never been told. 

His odyssey, in all its vivid color, is the subject of Daniel J. Flynn’s pathbreaking new biography The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer, published this week by ISI Books. Drawing on never-before-studied archives uncovered in a Pennsylvania warehouse, Flynn reconstructs the many provocative, page-turning facets of Frank S. Meyer's life.

Daniel J. Flynn is a senior editor at The American Spectator and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. His earlier books include Cult City: Jim Jones, Harvey Milk, and 10 Days That Shook San Francisco and Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America, both first published by ISI Books. His latest title on Frank S. Meyer is now available for purchase.