Rod Dreher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rod Dreher (b. February 14, 1967), originally from St. Francisville, Louisiana, is a Dallas-based writer and editor. He is an editorial writer and columnist for The Dallas Morning News and a contributor to The American Conservative and National Review. Previously, he served as a columnist for The New York Post. He also runs a blog called "Crunchy Con" at beliefnet.com.
In 2002, Dreher wrote an essay in National Review that explored a sub-category of American conservatism he defined as "granola conservatism," and whose adherents he described as "crunchy cons." He defined these individuals as traditional conservatives who believed in environmental conservation, frugal living, the preservation of traditional family values, in addition to expressing a skepticism of what they perceive to be some of the excesses of free market capitalism; they are also usually religious.
Four years later Dreher published a book that expanded upon the themes of this manifesto. This book was entitled Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, Gun-Loving Organic Gardeners, Evangelical Free-Range Farmers, Hip Homeschooling Mamas, Right-Wing Nature Lovers, and Their Diverse Tribe of Countercultural Conservatives Plan to Save America (or At Least the Republican Party).[1] He has stated that he is working on another book of a similar theme, but exact details are not known. He has implied on his blog that it may revolve around what he describes as the "Benedict Option," the idea that those who want to live with traditional morality should separate themselves to some degree from the mainstream society and try to live in intentional communities or other subcultures.
Dreher holds a B.A. in journalism from Louisiana State University. Raised a Methodist, he later converted to Catholicism. On October 12, 2006, he publicly announced his conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy.[2]
[edit] Interviews and commentary
- Birkenstocked Burkeans, National Review Online Commentary, July 12, 2002
- What Is a Crunchy Conservative? National Public Radio Commentary
- Interview on Fox News Radio
- Crunchy Cons Rising: An Interview with Rod Dreher
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Mini-bio from The Dallas Morning News
- Crunchy Con: Beliefnet.com
- Moosewood Republicans New York Times' Book Review
- God, Guts, and Granola A critical review of Dreher's "Crunchy Cons" by Washington Times' editor R.S. McCain.
- Huh? Going After the Crunchies A critical review of Dreher's "Crunchy Cons" by Jonah Goldberg of National Review.
- Hold the Granola A critical review of Dreher's "Crunchy Cons" by Gilbert Meilaender in First Things.
- The Contra-Crunchy Conservative Light-hearted parody and criticism of Crunchy Conservatism.
- Has neoconservatism passed its 'Best-Before' date? By Russ Kuykendall An analytical review of Rod Dreher's "Crunchy Cons".
