"A history of the origins of neoconservatism, The Rise of Common-Sense Conservatism is therefore timely, and one of its claims is quite delicious. Finnish scholar Antti Lepistö pops one of the great conceits of contemporary politics: that the refined rightists of DC policy circles have nothing whatsoever to do with the populism of truckers, anti-vax folks, and, of course, Donald Trump. The Rise of Common-Sense Conservatism shows that neocons, reacting to the malaise of 1970s America, strategically crafted a 'popular epistemology' by relying on the Common-Sense philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment. Neocons are populists, even if they were horrified when the boorish Donald Trump rode their tiger into the White House."

Law and Liberty

"Well-researched. . .  a handy reference guide for anyone who is interested in the social and intellectual history of the American neoconservatism."

New Political Science

"The Rise of Common-Sense Conservatism is a highly innovative examination of how neoconservative intellectuals applied Scottish Enlightenment ideas about common sense to late-twentieth-century American problems such as the family, crime, and multiculturalism. How did intellectuals who previously detected cultural problems among most Americans come to argue that the culture of the very same people was not the problem but rather the solution to a crisis created by elites? By answering this important question, Antti Lepistö helps us understand the forces that gave rise to Donald Trump."
 

Andrew Hartman, author of A War for the Soul of America

“Fascinating and compelling. Lepistö argues that neoconservatives’ misreadings of Scottish Enlightenment thinkers were part of a sustained effort to prove ‘average Americans’ right and liberal elites wrong, which thus paved the way for the right-wing populism that dominates both American and global politics today. This book will appeal to both lay and scholarly readers interested in the origins of our current political predicament.”

Michael L. Frazer, author of The Enlightenment of Sympathy: Justice and the Moral Sentiments in the Eighteenth Century and Today

“How did American conservatives go from mistrusting the mob to taking up the language of common-sense populism? Lepistö answers that question by exploring the hold Scottish Enlightenment moral philosophy had on late twentieth-century neoconservative thinkers. This is the kind of history writing that helps us make sense of our own moment.”

Sophia Rosenfeld, author of Common Sense: A Political History

"Lepistö presents an engaging study of neoconservatism’s influences which challenges scholarship to look at its intellectual substance, and to go beyond traditional preoccupations with foreign policy and debates regarding its origins. In doing so, he provides an original approach to the comprehension of neoconservatism and makes essential reading for those interested in it."

U.S. Studies Online

"A fascinating and well-written intellectual history of the American Right."

Ad Fontes

"Eloquent. . . This book undoubtedly provides a very novel and unique framework for analysis and interpretation of the ideological origins of contemporary American right-wing populism. The book's arguments are all the more interesting given some of the potential divergences between the Scottish Enlightenment and the political traditions of England."

The Paper

"The Rise of Common-Sense Conservatism makes a solid contribution to the scholarship on developments in the modern conservative movement."

Journal of American History

"In this well-researched history of contemporary political ideas and their philosophical forebears, Lepistö shows that first-generation neoconservatives. . . who had once dismissed with elitist disdain what they condemned as the destructive moral choices made by most Americans, had, by the late 1980s, fundamentally altered the tone and substance of their arguments."

Survival

"Lepistö skillfully addresses how the neoconservative intellectual movement relates to ongoing tensions over fluid notions about what is at stake in competing notions of 'Americanness.'. . . The Rise of Common-Sense Conservatism is a valuable contribution to a better understanding of contemporary American politics and will certainly provoke further scholarship on the subject."

American Historical Review