Pat Buchanan Books

In some sense Pat Buchanan is a true traditionalist among Conservatives. In another sense he shares a great deal in common with the modern thinkers and activists who have emerged in the last decade, calling out Democrats for actually being socialists and providing a stark warning for what is to come.

Buchanan’s book “The Death of the West” is just such an example of calling a spade a spade, making a legitimate comparison between America’s problem of illegal immigration and the barbarians at the gate during the fall of the Roman empire. He states that while there are numerous ways a civilization collapses there are always two fundamental factors, the decline in population and a lack of resistance to invasion by foreign forces.

In “Where the Right Went Wrong” he attacks the neocons who sold out the true values of the Republican party under George H.W Bush in favor of inconsequential financial reforms. He takes issue with those on the Right who aren’t really Conservative at all, something that can be seen today in the likes of Meghan McCain.

A self-described isolationist, Buchanan has been in stark opposition of the “forever war” which only since the Trump administration has become a tenant of the new Right.

Buchanan was born in Washington DC to a devout Catholic family. He graduated from Georgetown University and went on to start a life in journalism before entering politics working for both the Nixon and Regan administrations. He was also the original host of CNN’s Crossfire show, which later came to be co-hosted by another big name Conservative, Tucker Carlson.

While he didn’t invent the term “culture war” he did bring it back into vogue. He used the term in his 1992 address at the Republican National Conventional where he ran against incumbent George H. W. Bush.

“There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America,” he said. “It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself.”

Buchanan eventually acquiesced to Bush throwing his support behind the candidate but tried again in 1996 and again in 2000 under the Reform Party. His political agenda can be seen in all of his books, with a focus on isolationism (or at least non-interventionism), immigration, and an opposition to free trade.

His memoir “Right from the Beginning,” is perhaps the best place to start to fully understand Patrick J Buchanan the man and his upbringing in a time when “faith was unquestioned and patriotism unconstrained.”