Bradley J. Birzer

Bradley J. Birzer (born September 6, 1967) is an American historian. He is a history professor and the Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies at Hillsdale College, the author of five books and the co-founder of The Imaginative Conservative. He is known also as a Tolkien scholar.

Early life Birzer graduated from the University of Notre Dame, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1990. He earned a PhD from Indiana University Bloomington in 1998.

His second book looked at Saint Augustine's influence on the British 20th century Catholic historian Christopher Dawson. His third book was a biography of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. His two other books were about the Canadian musician Neil Peart and the American political theorist and literary critic Russell Kirk.

From 2014 to 2015, Birzer was visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy at the University of Colorado Boulder's Center for Western Civilization, Thought & Policy.

Reception

Journalist Christopher Caldwell, reviewing Birzer's book Russell Kirk: American Conservative for The New York Times, states that Birzer "succeeds admirably" in discerning an overarching project in Russell Kirk's writing. He also says, however, that Birzer "exaggerates Kirk's importance in the past decades' revival of interest in Burke and Tocqueville" and "ascribes to Kirk a larger role than the facts warrant in the early stages of Barry Goldwater's campaign for the 1964 Republican nomination". He concludes that "Kirk is too often the book's hero rather than its subject".

Political scientist Lee Trepanier, reviewing the same book for The Independent Review, states that "Birzer's book both deepens and broadens the themes that previous biographies about Kirk have explored" and concludes that "Birzer's book is not only accessible and scholarly but provides the historical, intellectual, and philosophical context to understand the man and his ideas. For years to come, it will be seen as the standard, if not definitive, account of Russell Kirk's life and ideas".

Political scientist Jeff Taylor, reviewing Birzer's book In Defense of Andrew Jackson for The American Conservative, states that, before reading the book, he "feared this might be a lightweight pro-Jackson tract, with a trendy Donald Trump tie-in", but admits that he was wrong after reading it. He praises Birzer as a bona fide historian and notes that the tone of the book is not defensive.

Selected works