'They Knew They Were Right'

Jim Lobe and Philip Weiss review Heilbrunn's new book about the neocons.

Both state that the book starts out strong recounting the roots of neoconservatism in the trauma of the Nazi Holocaust, especially the lessons drawn from the event, and the experience of Jewish marginalization in elite culture during the 1960s. Lobe and Weiss contend, for slightly different reasons, that the book falls apart as it moves towards the end when it tries grappling with more contemporary issues, particularly on the foreign policy side of the ledger.

Also, in a closing note Lobe holds up The Neoconservative Vision: From the Cold War to the Culture Wars by Mark Gerson as still the best history of neoconservatism. Check a review of that book here.