The Woven Figure: Conservatism and America's Fabric, 1994-1997

"I cannot deny my past to which my self is wed; The woven figure cannot undo its thread", wrote English poet Louis MacNeice. The aggregate work of America's most honored political columnist is like an improvised tapestry that begins without knowing how it will end. In this collection, themes such as the hubris of government or the inability of human institutions to perfect human nature either by legislative ambition or judicial fiat emerge and braid themselves together. They become a woven figure.

And, with a recently elected president who ran to the right of George Bush and appears to be governing to the right of Ronald Reagan, the conservative thread in that tapestry seems finally dominant. But don't think that victory has left Will complacent. His essays are a passionately articulated inventory of what is wrong and inept in this country -- and what is good and worth preserving.