Jean-Francois Revel: Frenchman for all seasons

Jean Francois Revel, the French neo-conservative philosopher who was pro-American and wouldn’t flinch on the study of communism and terrorism, passed away a short time ago at 82. R. Emmett Tyrrell at the American Spectator, who knew him years ago, has one of the best takes on him:

I met him in the mid-1970s and knew him for his journalism. His three-volume history of Western thought was beyond me, but his journalism, appearing in the French magazine L’Express and also in English publications, was learned and lively. His French was clear and understandable even to an American with only a couple of years of college French. He was enormously erudite, gruff, and sardonic. During the Cold War when his fellow Europeans in large numbers idolized Castro and Mao, Revel mocked them all. To him the evidence was clear. Behind the Iron and Bamboo Curtains was tyranny and economic futility. In America there was hope. In his 1970 book, Without Marx or Jesus: The New American Revolution, he notified anti-American leftists that the great revolution of the 20th century would come from America where the American notions of democracy and economics would overwhelm the “Socialist revolution.”

Revel also was an early neo-conservative to support free market trade, something that’s still finding a difficult time being accepted today. But I have a feeling that as time goes by now, free market trade will succeed in finding the acceptance it deserves, as people come to realize how it can help their economy tremendously.

To conclude, Adam should be returning soon, so let me say that it’s been a pleasure to guest blog here, and many thanks for inviting me to keep things active while he’s on vacation. I’ll be continuing with work at my own blog, and so, let me say thanks to everyone for your attention, and have a good weekend.

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