Memoirs of a Dissident Publisher

280 Pages·1985·42.51 MB·English

by  Henry Regnery

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WITHDRAW
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MEMOIRS OF A
DISSIDENT PUBLISHER
A
publisher whose controversial books
on domestic and foreign politics made
his house a force to be reckoned with,
Henry Regnery came of age during the
Depression, and was an early admirer
of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Graduate
studies in economics at Harvard, a sum-
mer job with a New Deal agency, and
his subsequent involvement in an am-
bitious attempt to establish an ideal
working community in the Pennsyl-
—
vania coal country these factors all
caused him, one way or another, to turn
his thinking toward the right. By the
time he launched the Henry Regnery
Companyin 1947,hewasanardentcon-
servative.
One of his firm's early successes was
God and Man at Yale, the book that
launched William F. Buckley,Jr., upon
a glittering career. Russell Kirk's The
Conservative Mind (1953), in print to
this day, helped to establish the con-
servative movement as an integral part
of the American tradition. Admiral
—
KimmeVsStory told "with theconvic-
tion of a brave man who had been un-
justly treated—by the highest officials of
government" caused a sensation.
Henry Regnery's authors included
John Dos Passos,Wyndham Lewis,Ezra
Pound, Konrad Adenauer, and that
larger-than-life figurethe SouthAfrican
poet Roy Campbell. The book provides
illuminating and oftentimes entertain-
ing glimpses of these and many other
men and women who had an impact on
our era: William Henry Chamberlin,
David Dallin, Louis Budenz,Whittaker
Chambers, Freda Utley, Felix Morley,
James Burnham, Frank S. Meyer,
among them.
The memoir is forthright yet unas-
suming, and engaginglyhonest. Itis the
personal history of a unique publishing
venture that is in effectan informal his-
tory of the conservative movement in
the United States since World War II.
It will be of intense interest to people
concerned with publishing, and of
—
course—to all readers right, left, and
center who takepositionson thedom-
inant issues of our time.
HENRY REGNERY
MEMOIRS
OF A DISSIDENT
PUBLISHER
HBJ
NewYorkandLondon
HARCOURT BRACE JOVANOVICH
Copyright © 1979 by Henry Regnery
All rights reserved.
Nopart ofthis publicationmay be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronicor
mechanical, including photocopy, recording,
or any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Regnery, Henry, 1912-
Memoirs ofa dissident publisher.
Includes index.
1. Regnery, H—enry, 1912- —
2. Publishers and publishing—United States Biography.
3. Conservatism United States.
I. Title.
Z473.R43A35 070.5'092'4 [B] 78-22269
isbn 0-15-173752-5
First edition
b c D E
For E. S. R.
with gratitude and affection
2050368