It has now been a year since publication of The Virtue of Nationalism. The book has been much applauded and criticized, and it is now beginning to appear in other languages, with Italian, German, Portuguese, Hungarian, Czech, and other editions in the works.
Perhaps the most spectacular consequence of the book’s appearance so far was the convening of the first National Conservatism Conference this summer in Washington, DC, on July 14-16, 2019. The conference—which I organized together with David Brog, Chris DeMuth, Daniel McCarthy, Josh Mitchell, and Rusty Reno—brought together nearly fifty speakers and hundreds of participants to discuss the place of nationalism within the conservative movement in the United States and in other democratic countries. Keynotes included Peter Thiel, Tucker Carlson, Amb. John Bolton, and Sen. Josh Hawley.
Media coverage of the conference has been exceptionally intense, with over two hundred articles appearing on the conference so far. You can read a selection of the best of them here. My favorite is a moving essay called “A National Conservative Awakening” by Brad Littlejohn, a young scholar who describes the hope the conference inspired.
The conference was hosted by a new organization called the Edmund Burke Foundation, which the conference conveners established in 2019 with the aim of strengthening the principles of national conservatism in Western and other democratic countries.
We have been releasing videos of speeches from the National Conservatism Conference on a new YouTube channel devoted to national conservatism, which has picked up over 4,000 subscribers in its first weeks.
My plenary speech explaining “Why National Conservatism?” can be watched here:
You can watch my closing remarks “On Nationalism and Scripture” here:
This conference did inspire hope, and it shows no signs of abating. I believe this conference will be just one of many events, and hope to see many of you participating. You can sign up to receive notices of upcoming national conservatism events here.