The Conservative Anti-Establishment

I recently read Geoffrey Kabaservice’s lament for the eclipse of old-line Republicanism, Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party from Eisenhower to the Tea Party (Oxford University Press, 2012).  It’s a flawed book in many respects, not the least because Kabaservice can’t adequately distinguish the social trends that roiled the 1960s from the political sentiment of moderation that he wishes to commend to readers.