Writing from Left to Right: My Journey from Liberal to Conservative

Q&A with Michael Novak

Q. You have written many books, but this is your first memoir. What prompted you to write this book?

A. My 80th birthday, gratitude to Providence for a wonderfully eventful life, sadness for things not done well, joy in the hundred tough battles fought.

Q. What do you hope to accomplish with this book?

A. Allow others to meet the great persons – George McGovern, Sarge Shriver, President Reagan, Prime Minister Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, and many others – it was my joy to spend some time with.

Q. You are known as an important voice in American Catholicism. What role has your faith played in your ideological evolution?

A. Yes, I am extremely grateful to the Catholic Church. And I hope I have been an “important voice” in the whole of American life, too, because I am very grateful to this country. As Tocqueville predicted, Catholics might one day be the best interpreters of the American creed, and America might be a vibrant meeting place of Jewish-Christian religion and political liberty.

Q. Is there a person or experience that had a significant impact on the development of your faith?

A. My grandfather, my parents, the scores of my “best friends who have been dead for many hundreds of years,” whom I met through reading and study, and the many hundreds of others I’ve been privileged to work with in person. Saints and sinners, both. As James Joyce wrote, “Catholicism is ‘here comes everybody!’” And America itself is the first country made up of every other people on earth, the first “planetary” nation.

Q. Who is the target audience for your book?

A. I hope all my friends and critics read it, and that millions and millions of others enjoy it!

Q. What are some of the highlights of the book?

A. Some of my favorites are the adventures of my days of reporting on the Vietnam War, the ups and downs of all the political campaigns I have participated in since 1960, the battles in the Catholic Church before, during, and after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). I think there are some good, funny stories here, some crushing defeats, some heartwarming and joyful moments.

Q. Anything else you’d like to add?

A. I hope this book represents a faithful witness to the tumultuous events of our country and the Church from 1960 through 2005. I have had a series of wonderful adventures, which Providence sent my way, usually unexpected. I hope this is a faithful mirror of our time, from a singular point of view.