“Intimidatingly intelligent.”
– George Will –
"One of America's most discerning cultural critics."
– Prof. Gerard V. Bradley, Notre Dame Law School –
"A gifted writer with a vast sweep of knowledge and resources..."
– Our Sunday Visitor –
“One of America’s premiere social analysts.”
– George Weigel, Ethics and Public Policy Center –
"One of America's most compelling and vibrant thinkers."
– Russell Moore, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Southern Baptist Convention –
“One of the most creative social observers of our time.”
– Prof. Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University –
"Eberstadt marries brilliant analytical power with wry wit."
– The Washington Times –
“One of America’s foremost public intellectuals."
– John Stonestreet, the Colson Center –
“No theorist of secularization has come close to Eberstadt in sociological insight or explanatory power.”
– Prof. Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard Law School –

Most Recent

Critical Father Theory

Jul 27, 2021 |

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, my stepfather worked as an auto mechanic in Upstate New York, at a ‘youth camp’ nestled in a pine forest. The bucolic sobriquet was a euphemism; this ‘camp’ was a medium-security pre-prison of sorts for boys 14-17, mostly from New York...

Might Trauma Affect Gender Identity?

Jul 16, 2021 |

Another month, another social milestone. On June 27, Kataluna Enriquez became the first transgender woman in history to be crowned Miss Nevada USA, thereby qualifying to compete in November's national Miss USA contest. But like other recent "firsts," Enriquez's story...

Girls Will Be Boys

May 26, 2021 |

The storming of the United States Capitol last January 6, spearheaded in part by followers of the internet craze known as QAnon, set off soul-searching among conservatives. Suddenly, those who had only a dim awareness of Q & Co. were forced to confront just how...

Mr. President, the Equality Act Defies Your Church’s Teaching

Apr 2, 2021 |

Dear Mr. President, This is my third open letter in the pages of Newsweek, addressing you as a fellow American Catholic. The reason for these public overtures is self-evident: the United States has never before had a president who touts his religious credentials and...

More Drugs! Just What America Needs

Mar 26, 2021 |

In rural upstate New York, where I grew up, pot-smoking was disproportionately a sport of farmers’ kids. That’s because inequitable ownership of land meant that some people could grow weed more discreetly than others. Among those with acres to till, private oases of...

“Truth may be unwanted, inconvenient, resented, mocked in all the best places—even harassed, suppressed, and forced underground. But that does not make it anything other than truth.”

Latest Release!

Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics

A bitter divisiveness afflicts America. The rancor of news pundits, the incivility of social media, and the storm of opposition to free speech on college campuses are symptoms of a fraying social fabric. Explanations of this discord have been offered from many quarters, but have failed to get at its roots. With Primal Screams, Mary Eberstadt does just that. With impeccable logic and evidence from many fields, she argues that the rise of identity politics is a direct result of the collapse of family and community.

Her logic—backed by startling new data—runs as follows: humans from time immemorial have forged their identities within elemental structures of kinship. Today, following decades of social shocks like family shrinkage and widespread breakdown, generations of people have been deprived of the building blocks of identity itself. This dispossession, argues Eberstadt, propels the increasingly frantic flight to membership in identitarian groups. The seemingly constant fury is, in fact, a primal scream for the familial root system of which many have been deprived.

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Praise for Primal Screams

“A well-researched, powerfully argued, and profound account of the deepest sources of our current cultural crises… an indispensable book for understanding our time.”

Leon R. Kass, professor emeritus, Committee on Social Thought, The University of Chicago

“Mary Eberstadt offers a powerfully persuasive guide to why we are beset by these challenges, and how to take them on.”

Yuval Levin, editor of National Affairs

“Primal Screams is and should be controversial. It is also quite brilliant.”

David Marcus,  The Federalist

“I can’t recommend Eberstadt’s books on these matters enough.”

Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review

“A compelling thesis, deftly defended.”

Peter Leithart, Theopolis Institute

“An incredibly influential, intellectual, precise commentary about current culture, philosophy, and the fate of the post-modern man.”

Jonathan Van Maren, LifeSite News

“Primal Screams is a deeply thought-provoking reflection on human nature and the fate of our republic.”

Mary Ann Glendon, Professor of Law, Harvard University

“Mary Eberstadt proves, yet again, that she is one of America’s most insightful — as well as compassionate — analysts.”

George Weigel, Ethics and Public Policy Center

“Mary Eberstadt responds to the deepest cries of the wounded souls of our time. Read it and share it.”

Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review Institute

“Mary Eberstadt’s thesis is exactly right…”

Luma Simms, Public Discourse

“Sympathetic and persuasive.”

R.R. Reno, First Things

“Una de las grandes estudiosas sobre los devastadores efectos de la revolución sexual, en curso en Occidente desde los años 60, sobre la familia y la persona.”

Alberto Frigerio,  Tempi

“One of our most perceptive cultural analysts.”

Gene Veith, Patheos

“Mary Eberstadt understands ‘identity politics’ better than its practitioners — and any of its critics to date. She takes seriously the question of why so many people feel a need for the sense of belonging that identity politics seeks to provide. Her answer is terrifying…”

Tod Lindberg, author of The Heroic Heart: Greatness Ancient and Modern

“It is scarcely a foregone conclusion that our society will return to sanity on questions of sexual morality and marriage. But if we do, then prophets like Mary Eberstadt will be celebrated in song and story.”

Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University

“Important for readers of all political and ideological complexions.”

Madeline Fry, Washington Examiner

“Primal Screams provides a cogent, prophetic take…”

Black Christian News Network

“Vintage Eberstadt: clearly argued with conviction… She offers us a model for how political discussion should be pursued.”

Dr. Carl Trueman, The Gospel Coalition

Other Books

How the West Really Lost God

“Strikes far deeper into reality than any rival argument in the field.” – Michael Novak
Buy

Adam and Eve After the Pill

“Brilliant, serious work of the kind we’ve needed for decades.” – Joseph Bottum
Buy

The Last Homily

“I hope [this book] will be a means of grace for people who did not know Fr. Arne personally and a fond reminder of his spiritual legacy for those of us who did” – Leonard A. Leo
Buy

It’s Dangerous to Believe

“A powerful new manifesto.” – Robert P. George

“A tour de force, essential reading.” – Jonathan Last, The Weekly Standard

Buy

The Loser Letters

“…[C.S.] Lewis now has a rival: The Loser Letters, by Mary Eberstadt…this is witty and wicked satire.” – Scot McKnight
Buy
Home Alone America

Home-Alone America

“Home-Alone America is a fine first salvo in what may be a changed war.” – Kelly Jane Torrance, Washington Times
Buy

Recent Media

A Conversation with Mary Eberstadt

May 24, 2021 | ,

From the Weekly Tech podcast page: "In this episode, I am joined by my ERLC colleague Josh Wester, who serves as the chair of research in Christian Ethics and leads our communications team. We talk to Mary Eberstadt who is an, American essayist, novelist, and author...

The Great Scattering

May 21, 2021 |

In a phenomenal summary of Mary Eberstadt's works Praxis Circle writes: Earlier this year Praxis Circle sponsored an Internet-based course where we gave each Member “student” a copy of Mary Eberstadt’s book, Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity...

The Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics

May 3, 2021 | ,

Watch the latest video interview of Mary Eberstadt on Triggernometry. Mary Eberstadt is an American essayist, novelist, and author of several works of nonfiction, including Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics. She holds the Panula Chair...

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