Rod Dreher

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Rod Dreher (b. 1967), originally from St. Francisville, Louisiana, is a Dallas-based writer and editor. He is an assistant editorial page editor (and occasional columnist) for The Dallas Morning News and a contributor to The American Conservative and National Review. Previously, he served as a columnist for The New York Post.

In 2002, Dreher wrote an essay in National Review that explored a sub-category of American conservatism he defined as granola conservatism, and whose adherents he described as "crunchy cons." He defined these individuals as traditional conservatives who believed in environmental conservation, frugal living, the preservation of traditional family values, in addition to expressing a skepticism of what they perceive to be some of the excesses of free market capitalism; they are also usually religious.

Four years later Dreher published a book that expanded upon the themes of this manifesto. This book was entitled Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers, ... America (or at least the Republican Party).^[1]

Dreher holds a B.A. in journalism from Louisiana State University. Raised a Methodist, he later converted to Catholicism. On October 12, 2006, he publicly announced his conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy.^[2]