Stanley Kurtz

Senior Fellow

Stanley Kurtz is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Beyond his work with Education and American Ideals, Mr. Kurtz is a key contributor to American public debates on a wide range of issues from K–12 and higher education reform, to the challenges of democratization abroad, to urban-suburban policies, to the shaping of the American left’s agenda. Mr. Kurtz has written on these and other issues for various journals, particularly National Review Online (where he is a contributing editor).

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Stanley Kurtz is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. On a wide range of issues, from K–12 and higher education reform, to the challenges of democratization abroad, to urban-suburban policies, to the shaping of the American left’s agenda, Mr. Kurtz is a key contributor to American public debates. Mr. Kurtz has written on these and other issues for various journals, particularly National Review Online (where he is a contributing editor).

Mr. Kurtz has published two influential books on President Obama’s political history and policy agenda: Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism (Threshold) and Spreading the Wealth: How Obama is Robbing the Suburbs to Pay for the Cities (Sentinel). He has also led the campaign to reform federal subsidies to academic programs of “area studies” under Title VI of the Higher Education Act, and has co-authored model campus free speech legislation adopted by several states.

Mr. Kurtz’s latest book, The Lost History of Western Civilization (National Association of Scholars), offers both a critique of deconstructionist history and a new way of looking at America’s cultural conflicts. (A free pdf of the book can be downloaded here.)

Mr. Kurtz received his undergraduate degree from Haverford College and his Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University. He later taught at Harvard, winning several teaching awards for his work in a Great Books Program. He was also Dewey Prize Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Chicago.

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San Francisco’s Ban on the Junior ROTC

Stanley Kurtz

San Francisco has banned the Junior ROTC program (JROTC) from the city’s high schools. (For a report on related initiatives,…

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National Review Online / November 16, 2006

Doves Fly Toward Iran

Stanley Kurtz

Increasingly, it looks as though the United States may attempt to negotiate a “grand bargain” with Iran. To settle our…

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National Review Online / November 13, 2006

Marriage Wins

Stanley Kurtz

With the important exception of Arizona, 2006 was an excellent election for those who believe that marriage is the union…

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National Review Online / November 8, 2006

Marriage Politics

Stanley Kurtz

What can we say about the effect of the same-sex marriage issue on the election? That will likely clarify a…

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National Review Online / November 8, 2006

The Confession

Stanley Kurtz

Suppose a large group of same-sex-marriage activists came together and made the following confession to a group of same-sex-marriage skeptics:…

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National Review Online / October 31, 2006

The Confession II

Stanley Kurtz

**This is the second of a two-part essay. Click here to read the first part.** In his well-received 1997 book…

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National Review Online / November 1, 2006

Avoidance Strategy

Stanley Kurtz

On multiple occasions, I’ve rebutted claims by William Eskridge and Darren Spedale that European marriage is flourishing under the impact…

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National Review Online / October 30, 2006

Marriage Back on the Table

Stanley Kurtz

<msoNormal$3>Yesterday the New Jersey supreme court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, or its equivalent, just without the name “marriage.”…

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National Review Online / October 26, 2006

Are You a Ned Lamont Republican?

Stanley Kurtz

Are we turning into the Ned Lamont Republicans? No, I’m not talking about Republicans racing for the exits in Iraq….

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National Review Online / October 25, 2006

It's the Nukes, Stupid

Stanley Kurtz

What will it take to wake up the West? Will a nuclear explosion beneath a North Korean mountain be enough?…

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National Review Online / October 9, 2006

Deflating Grade Inflation

Stanley Kurtz

Is there anything the general public can do about the politically correct academy? In a word, yes. It’s easy to…

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National Review Online / September 27, 2006

More on Edsall

Stanley Kurtz

Jonah, yesterday you called for comments on this TNR piece by Thomas Edsall adapted from his new book, Building Red…

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National Review Online / September 20, 2006