Michael Blowhard writes:

Dear Blowhards --

Philip Weiss thinks that Jacob Heilbrunn has written 2/3rds of an important and interesting book about the neocons. Philip blogs here. Heilbrunn himself recently analyzed what drives the influential and combative neocon honcho Norman Podhoretz. Nice passage:

The United States, Podhoretz says, has only fired the opening shots in a lengthy campaign that should include attacks on Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria in turn, wiping out their regimes and creating the conditions for democracy in the Middle East. Podhoretz never pauses to discuss the feasibility of carrying out such measures; to him it is self-evident that the U.S. must exercise moral and military leadership, heedless of any financial or human costs, for the stakes are nothing less than survival or annihilation.

Timothy Noah reviews Heilbrunn's book here. Podhoretz makes his own case here.

Steven LaTulippe, a former Air Force officer, extols the virtues of isolationism. Bill Kauffman points out the similarities between anarchism and conservatism. (Link thanks to Charlton Griffin.) We interviewed the nothing-if-not-provocative Bill Kauffman not long ago: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five. Here's my intro to the series.

Best,

Michael

UPDATE: I notice that Bill Kauffman has a new book coming out soon entitled "Ain't My America: The Long, Noble History of Anti-War Conservatism and Middle-American Anti-Imperialism." Pre-order a copy of it here. Fun to see that the book has been blurbed by both George McGovern and Ron Paul.