Ex-Neocon

Ex-Neocon consists of Scott McConnell’s historical and polemical essays from 2001 to the present. A prominent analyst and journalist who once knew the Kristols and Podhoretzes, worked with them, admired them and identified fully with them, McConnell shows what the thinking was among neocons in those days and why he left the fold. He discusses the Neocons and traditional Convervative views on the wars in the Middle East, immigration policy, the US economy and other topics. The book contains an introduction by Philip Weiss, founder of Mondoweiss, the important post-Zionist website. 

It has been said that neoconservatism is a career; once individuals become embedded in the well-subsidized world of neocon magazines, newspapers and think tanks, they don’t leave. If they have doubts about neoconservative projects (like high immigration or the Iraq War), they suppress them. Continuing their careers depends upon it.

Scott McConnell is one of very few who were once part of this world and left it behind. In Ex-Neocon, a collection of essays, polemics and reviews written since 9/11, he explores the major divisions between neoconservatives — still dominant in the GOP establishment — and more traditional styles of American conservatism. Many of these essays first appeared in The American Conservative, the magazine McConnell helped found in order to give a voice to those who believed that the neocons were running the conservative movement, and America, off a cliff.

Among the major topics covered are the ideological origins of the Iraq war, the question of how deferential the United States should be to Israel, how America’s changing demographics will alter its foreign policy, the importance of Walt and Mearsheimer. McConnell also explores the rise of the French National Front, what Americans can learn from de Gaulle, and the battles over the Iran nuclear deal. These essays provide a unique window into the politics of the post 9/11 period. Often personal as well as political, they reflect McConnell's transformation from a committed Commentary-contributing “neocon” to a friend and colleague of Pat Buchanan and a skeptical, politically eclectic, "Obamacon."


Few books resemble this, for there are very few ex-Neocons. Anyone interested in the major American ideological battles of the past generation, those which still shape the contours of the debates and issues of tomorrow’s political campaigns, will find Ex-Neocon an invaluable guide.