The Right provides a sweeping intellectual history of American conservatism from the Progressive Era to the Trump presidency. Matthew Continetti, a political commentator and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, traces the evolution of conservative thought and its perpetual tension between mainstream acceptance and populist insurgency. The book follows conservatism from its origins in resistance to Progressive reforms, through the founding of National Review and the Barry Goldwater movement, the Reagan ascendancy, and the successive challenges from Pat Buchanan, the Tea Party, and finally Trump. Continetti is attentive to the thinkers—including Irving Babbitt, Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley Jr., and Irving Kristol—who shaped conservative ideas, but also to the activists and politicians who translated ideas into political power. He identifies a recurring pattern: mainstream conservatives achieve influence by moderating the movement's extremist tendencies, only to face backlash from populists who reject compromise with liberalism. The Trump era represents the latest iteration of this dynamic, with outcomes still unfolding. For readers seeking to understand conservative politics as an intellectual tradition with its own internal debates and tensions, Continetti provides essential historical perspective.