The American conservative movement has been defined by the written word. From Russell Kirk’s Roots of American Order (written on the Pepperdine campus, by the way) and Robert Nisbet’s Quest for Community to Ross Douthat’s Bad Religion and Henry Olsen’s Working Class Republican, books of history, philosophy, and policy are touchstones of the movement. In this section, we’ll also look at books about conservatism written from the left.