Allan Carlson

Allan Carlson
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Allan Carlson’s books include The New Agrarian Mind: The Movement Toward Decentralist Thought in 20th Century America and, as editor, the forthcoming Land and Liberty: The Best Essays of FREE AMERICA.

Recent Essays

Patriotic Work: Wendell Berry’s The Need to be Whole: Patriotism and the History of Prejudice

No one can be whole alone; no one can be free alone. Rather, Berry holds that “[t]o be whole and free is…to be at home in a place and in a community where one knows and is known,” and where its boundaries include soils, waters, plants, and animals.

In Memoriam: Roger Scruton, 1944-2020

“The real wealth of a country … does not reside in the hectic exchanges on the stock market or the rivers of commodities that flow through every household without belonging there. It resides in local communities, in the work that holds them together, and the deep investment represented by a home, a place and the endowment across generations of human love.”

The Midwest: A Place with a History and a Future

In sum, Finding a New Midwestern History is an exemplary compilation of historical interpretations both renewed and new. The enthusiasms of Garland, Wright, and Turner—registered a century and a quarter ago—have found compelling new voices, testifying to the Midwest’s remarkable past, and present.

Was 1964 the Most Important Year — Ever?

Ask an American of even above-average intelligence what happened in 1964, and the predictable answer would be “Beatlemania” (although the politically sensitive conservative might...

Economic Smackdown!: ‘Porchers’ vs. ‘Austrians’

Earlier this month, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute held a summer program for college students in Louisville, Kentucky. Titled "Arguing Conservatism," the event featured faculty...

Romney Photo

I received my official photo of Mitt Romney in the mail today. It came from the Republican National Committee. It shows Governor Romney standing...

The Family-Centered Economy

Overall, the key corrolations are clear: functional families are strong and large; strong and large families are function-rich.

Commentary on John Medaille’s Toward a Truly Free Market

It should help open the ‘closed shop’ of economic theory to a potentially rich and fruitful debate.

Why Australia Needs a Renewed Culture of Natural Marriage

Human nature, innate human longings, human biology, and human history are all on your side.

Out of the Fissure, Real Energy: A Response to God’s Economy

Perhaps out of these fissures and the current populist turmoil, someone might be able to craft a new, more coherent, and more promising Christian and Democratic coalition.

Beyond Capitalism and Socialism: Rebuilding an American Economy Focused on Family and Community

In light of the the economic crisis - and the bright light it sheds on the failings of modern capitalism - there is a need to reconsider older arguments of a "Third Way," a social and economic system that in important respects would be neither capitalist nor socialist.

“Servile World: How ‘The Big Business Government,’ ‘The Loathsome Thing Called Social Service,’ and Other Distrubutist Nightmares All Came True

In response to my posting on "'A Distributist View of the Global Economic Crisis': A Report," several people asked for more specifics regarding the...