The Conservative Soul

Is the GOP now a religious party? "As engaging as it is provocative. . . . should be read closely by liberals as well as conservatives." —Jonathan Raban, The New York Review of Books

One of the nation's leading political commentators makes an impassioned call to rescue conservatism from the excesses of the Republican far right, which has tried to make the GOP the first fundamentally religious party in American history.


Today's conservatives support the idea of limited government, but they have increased government's size and power to new heights. They believe in balanced budgets, but they have boosted government spending, debt, and pork to record levels. They believe in national security but launched a reckless, ideological occupation in Iraq that has made us tangibly less safe. They have substituted religion for politics and damaged both.


In this bold and powerful book, Andrew Sullivan makes a provocative, prescient, and heartfelt case for a revived conservatism at peace with the modern world, and dedicated to restraining government and empowering individuals to live rich and fulfilling lives.


"Calmly and rationally attempts to deduce the malady that in barely fifteen years has rendered Reagan-era conservatism all but unrecognizable." —Bryan Burrough, The Washington Post Book World

"Sullivan has a breezy, readable style . . . Much of the book is a meditation on his own evolving faith as a devout Catholic." —Publishers Weekly

"Andrew Sullivan has been more honest and open-minded than just about anybody else on the right. . . . This is Sullivan at his wonderful best." —David Brooks, The New York Times Book Review