I'm reading Andrew J Bacevich's American Conservatism a surprising book. It is a collection of essays about conservatism in America and it is enlightening. It helps me make sense of the positions some politicians and historians have taken. And it points out the error of assuming anybody who calls himself a Republican or a conservative is really what he says he is.
Definitions of what it means to be conservative by Russell Kirk and William F Buckley, Jr clarify the origins of modern American conservatism. And point out where it has gone astray. Pieces by Joan Didion, Zora Neale Hurston, and Allan Bloom are particularly interesting.
Now I need to find a collection like this addressing American Liberalism.