SOURCE: Gerson, Mark. “Norman's Conquest: A Commentary on the Podhoretz Legacy.” Policy Review, no. 74 (fall 1995): 64-8.

In the following essay, Gerson traces Podhoretz's rise in political and editorial stature, chronicling how Podhoretz's articles and essays trace his gradual shift from the liberal Left to the neo-Conservative Right.

In the early 1960s, the great Columbia professor and literary critic Lionel Trilling warned of the impending “Norman Invasion.” He was talking about three brash and brilliant young stars of the literary world—Norman O. Brown, Norman Mailer, and Norman Podhoretz. A generation later, no one recalls Norman O. Brown, and Norman Mailer will be remembered as an unharnessed genius. Of Trilling's invaders, one has conquered: Norman Podhoretz.

William, the great Norman conqueror of 1066, left behind the glorious Bayeux Tapestry detailing the story of his invasion of England. Despite two world wars and countless smaller ones, the tapestry remains with us...