SOURCE: Podhoretz, Norman, and Jennifer Schuessler. “Norman Podhoretz: Making Enemies.” Publishers Weekly 246, no. 4 (25 January 1999): 67-8.

In the following interview, Podhoretz discusses his relationship with his “ex-friends,” the reasons for his switch from Left-wing to Right-wing politics, and his feelings regarding the critical reception of his works.

In a career spanning some 45 years, Norman Podhoretz has stood as an object lesson in how to make enemies and influence people. As the longtime editor of Commentary magazine and the author of such books as Why We Were in Vietnam (1982) and The Present Danger (1980), he has been one of the leading intellectual lights of the neo-conservative movement, building the case since the early '70s for a military buildup and a retreat from Great Society social policy that, according to some, helped pave the way for the election of Ronald Reagan.

But perhaps Podhoretz owes his fame as much to his...