Robert Nisbet’s The Quest for Community, published in 1953, was a vital component in the resurgence of an intelligent conservatism in America. When Nisbet wrote, the world was seemingly divided into two hostile camps. On the one hand, the communist world represented the ascendency of the centralized state along with a planned economy. The individual was subordinate to the needs of the state and, to many observers on both sides, freedom was replaced by an all-encompassing bureaucracy intent on controlling every aspect of existence. On the other hand, the free world stood for individual liberty and free markets wherein the…

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