"AMERICA FIRST! Its History, Culture, and Politics" by Bill
Kauffman, Prometheus Books 1995, $24.95 hb.

This is a sympathetic history of pre-WWII populist isolationism written
by a paleolibertarian intimate of the "Chronicles" crowd. He wraps up
with an analysis of the movement's rebirth in the 1990s, as represented
by Buchannan, Perot, Jerry Brown, et al.

A very quick and facinating "read". The author is often quite funny, and
is honest about the flaws of the characters involved.

He lists the tenets of American "populism" as:

    (1) concentrated wealth and power are pernicious; widespread
    distribution is the proper condition

    (2) war and militarism are ruinous to the republic and to the
    character of the populace

    (3) ordinary people can be trusted to make their own decisions

"Isolationism", in the tradition he writes about, means
opposition to:

    (1) imperialism (should have left Puerto Rico and the Phillipines
    alone)

    (2) wars or interventions on behalf of internationalist
    principles

    (3) institutions or treaties that transfer US sovereignty to
    international or multinational bodies

Kaufmann takes some potshots at the cultural conservatives. Writing of 
Pat Buchanan in the 1992 primary race, he says:

    The campaign fell apart after New Hampshire, however. Buchanan
    miscalculated badly, shifting his emphasis from the very popular
    themes of low taxes and America First to attacks on nipple rings
    and coprophilia. He ran ads ad nauseam on Georgia television
    featuring grainy snippets from a film about gay black men that
    was funded, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts.
    [...] The tawdriness of the Buchanan campaign suggested that its
    candidate--a lifelong Washingtonian--knew a lot less about
    America than he claimed to. [...] Buchanan ought to have sought
    the advice of Gore Vidal on matters American, but that would
    have put a dent in the old "The Fags Are Coming! The Fags Are
    Coming!" fundraising.

This is not necessarily incorrect analysis, but nowhere does Kaufmann
admit that traditionalists might be properly part of the America First
coalition. He does defend Buchanan's famous Republican convention speech
as being mild and inoffensive.

I will probably read Gore Vidal based on Kaufmann's chapter on him,
something I wouldn't have done otherwise. He says that Vidal's
historical novels are very loyal to the Old Republic.

Vidal contributes a rather weak Forward. The chapter on Alice
Roosevelt Longworth appeared in "Chronicles" recenty. Good
bibliography.