Oral history interview with Irving Kristol, 1995

Biographical Note

Writer

Scope and Contents

The oral history interview with Irving Kristol contains various interview footage and other footage that was used for the 1998 documentary "Arguing the World." The transcript only partially covers the content found in the video footage. Footage corresponding to video tapes 1-7 is a conversation with Kristol on the street. The footage on tape 1 and much of tape 2 is general street scenes of the Upper West Side in the 1990s, without Kristol. The interview with Kristol on the street is included in the transcript. The footage found on tapes 8-10 are an interview with Kristol in an office setting. Footage found on tapes 11-12 is of Kristol in a roundtable discussion. Tapes 13-17 contain an additional interview. Content found on tapes 8-17 is not included in the transcript. Tapes 18-22 include another interview, which is partially covered by the transcript. Transcript coverage ends partway through tape 21 Transcribed segments cover the following subjects: Youth; family; effect of Depression on, economic conditions of; City College of New York (CCNY) 1936-1940, political life of, students, anticommunism, Trotskyism at, role of anti-Stalinist left; Partisan Review, impact of; United States Army service, effects of; editor Commentary Magazine 1947-1952, and Jewish identity; England 1953-1958; Cold War culture; liberal anticommunism and McCarthyism; New York intellectuals, seriousness of, reading of, politics of; New Left, reactions to; neoconservatism; The Public Interest, founding of; response to Holocaust; university life 1970s-

Subjects

• Dorman, Joseph, 1958- interviewer.
• Interviews.
• Kristol, Irving--Interviews.
• New York (N.Y.)--Intellectual life--20th century.
• Oral histories (literary works)

Access Conditions

Copyright by Joseph Dorman