SCOTCHIE, Joseph 1956-

PERSONAL: Born June 6, 1956, in Portsmouth, VA; son of Andrew A. (an engineer) and Consetta (in business; maiden name, Bruno) Scotchie; married Anna Matuzio (a librarian); children: Luke Anthony, Kate Susannah, Nicholas Andrew. Education: University of North Carolina at Asheville, B.A., 1983; City College of New York, M.A., 1986. Religion: Roman Catholic. Hobbies and other interests: Biography, history.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Transaction Publishers, Rutgers University, 35 Berrue Cir., Piscataway, NJ 08854-8042.

CAREER: Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Asheville, NC, teacher, 1985-86; teacher at public schools in Ahoskie, NC, 1986-87; National Mortgage News, New York, NY, editor, 1990-93; Anton Community Newspapers, Mineola, NY, editor, 1994—.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) The Vision of Richard Weaver, Transaction Publishers (New Brunswick, NJ), 1995.

Barbarians in the Saddle: An Intellectual Biography of Richard M. Weaver, Transaction Publishers (New Brunswick, NJ), 1997.

(Editor) The Paleoconservatives: New Voices of theOld Right, Transaction Publishers (New Brunswick, NJ), 1999.

Thomas Wolfe Revisited, Land of the Sky Books (Alexander, NC), 2000.

Revolt from the Heartland: The Struggle for anAuthentic Conservatism, Transaction Publishers (New Brunswick, NJ), 2002.

Street Corner Conservative: Patrick J. Buchanan andHis Times, Alexander Books (Alexander, NC), 2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS: "A history of Asheville and the North Carolinas."

SIDELIGHTS: Joseph Scotchie told CA: "I have enjoyed and admired good writing since I was young, even if it was just a column in the local newspaper or an article in Sports Illustrated. People who like to read often try their own hand at writing. Also, growing up in the same hometown as Thomas Wolfe has served as an inspiration.

"In my youth, I liked reading the 'big time' novelists: Wolfe, Saul Bellow, Jack Kerouac, Fyodor Dostoevsky, William Faulkner, and James Joyce, among others. Later on, I was influenced by the men I would eventually write about: Richard Weaver, Russell Kirk, Murray Rothbard, Donald Davidson, Andrew Lytle, M. E. Bradford, plus such living 'Old Right' writers as Patrick J. Buchanan, Thomas Fleming, Samuel Francis, Clyde Wilson, and Paul Gottfried.

"All of my books, except one, concern a detailed treatment of what's properly termed the Old Right. Obviously, I believe that what this movement stands for is of great importance, even though the hour is pretty darn late.

"Old Right writers are distinguished by a thorough knowledge of American and Western history. From them we learn where American-style liberties came from, how they have been lost, and how Americans might find their way back. Furthermore, the entire tapestry of Western history—from antiquity to the Middle Ages, down through its apologists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—is also on display in Old Right scholarship.

"In addition, Old Right thinkers have been willing to oppose the statism of the modern age and then pay the price that entails. More specifically, that stand has meant opposition to both mass immigration and American imperialism, plus support for a wholesale decentralization of government functions, and beyond politics, a celebration of the nation's rich and varied regional cultures, mostly through its music and literature. The Old Right speaks eloquently to all the major issues during this most perilous moment in Western history.

"Reading and writing go hand in hand. The process is never-ending; it amounts to a lifelong exercise in self-education and writers, frankly, should rejoice in that reality. Discipline is the most important virtue for any young writer. In my view, there's no such thing as 'writer's block.' If you think you have it, then go write a book review. If young writers are willing to endure years of toil and frustration, then they will eventually succeed in finding both their voices and their lifelong subjects."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chronicles, December, 2002, Paul Gottfried, review of Revolt from the Heartland: The Struggle for an Authentic Conservatism, pp. 25-26; July, 2003, Jerry Woodruff, review of Street Corner Conservative: Patrick J. Buchanan and His Times, pp. 33-34.

Perspectives on Political Science, summer, 2000, James F. Pontuso, review of The Paleoconservatives: New Voices of the Old Right, p. 174. Sewanee Review, summer, 1998, David Middleton, review of The Vision of Richard Weaver and Barbarians in the Saddle: An Intellectual Biography of Richard M. Weaver, pp. 517-525.