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Dinesh D'Souza (born April 25, 1961 in Bombay, India), is an author and the Robert and Karen Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Ideology 1.1.1 American exceptionalism 1.2 Princeton University 1.2.1 Critic of feminism 2 Personal wealth 3 Media appearances 4 The Enemy at Home 5 Personal 6 Bibliography 6.1 Books 6.2 Articles 7 References 8 External links

D'Souza is the author of several New York Times best seller books. He served previously as senior policy analyst in Ronald Reagan's White House from 1987 to 1988 and, previously, as a member of the editorial staff of Policy Review magazine.

D'Souza is a noted conservative, and defines conservatism in the American sense as "conserving the principles of the American Revolution". He argues that it is a blend of classical liberalism and ancient virtue, in particular, "the belief that there are moral standards in the universe and that living up to them is the best way to have a full and happy life." He also argues against what he calls the modern liberal belief that "human nature is intrinsically good," and thus that "the great conflicts in the world…arise out of terrible misunderstandings that can be corrected through ongoing conversation and through the mediation of the United Nations." (Letters to a Young Conservative)

D'Souza challenges beliefs and projects such as affirmative action, and social welfare programs. Two of his books, Illiberal Education and The End of Racism, have been widely criticized by mainstream sources but were supported by conservative writers. In the first, he argued that many universities practiced intolerance of conservative views.

D'Souza has often stated his belief that idealizing the rebellion against slavery is a source of disability among some African Americans. He speculates that slaves, to preserve a sense of dignity, in the circumstances of slavery, would by nature tend to be defiant. This defiance would become the central heroic reference for African-American slaves, restoring a degree of pride and dignity to all. But, he continues, the price of this would be the habitually ingrained attitude of defiance that is ultimately self-destructive. These self-destructive habits still have a legacy today, D'Souza contends, and serve to explain, in a large part, the degree to which many slave descendants suffer from social and self-esteem issues.

The theme of D'Souza's book What's So Great About America is that the freedoms of America offer too much to immigrants, which is why there have been so many. He argues that the success of immigrants historically is due to their assimilation of American values while keeping their heritage, i.e. the "melting pot". Conversely, he disapproves of cultural ghettos and Theodore Roosevelt's denunciation of hyphenated Americans and the lunatic fringe.

After his 1983 graduation from Dartmouth College, D'Souza moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where he worked for Concerned Alumni of Princeton, a conservative organization strongly critical of coeducation, affirmative action, and campus access to birth control. As writer and editor-in-chief for Prospect, the organization's magazine, D'Souza wrote a March 1984 cover story identifying a freshman who had begun a sexual relationship with another student against her mother's wishes. D'Souza offered details of the woman's sex life, and criticized Princeton University for paying the student's tuition fees after the student's mother withdrew financial support. The ensuing scandal was reported in The New York Times.^[1] D'Souza claimed that the woman's name had been published as the result of a "proofreading error" and that he "care[s] about the girl; that's why [he] wrote the story."

D'Souza also denounced feminism in Letters to a Young Conservative, writing that:

The feminist error was to embrace the value of the workplace as greater than the value of the home. Feminism has endorsed the public sphere as inherently more constitutive of women’s worth than the private sphere. Feminists have established as their criterion of success and self-worth an equal representation with men at the top of the career ladder. The consequence of this feminist scale of values is a terrible and unjust devaluation of women who work at home. (pp. 105–106).

Also from Letters to a Young Conservative:

"Even hypocrisy – professing one thing and doing another – is in the conservative view preferable to a denial of standards because such denial leads to moral chaos or nihilism.”

In a editorial piece written by Dinesh D'Souza in the Los Angeles Times, D'Souza stated that the African National Congress and its imprisoned head, Nelson Mandela were communists. He further defended apartheid and the white-led government. He wrote the article as head of the Princeton Review, which was not directly related to Princeton University but based at the university and supported by former U.S. Treasury Secretary William Simon.

D'Souza has suggested that many modern social problems are results of a decline in belief in a universal moral order. In his recent book The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11, he wrote that

The cultural left in this country is responsible for causing 9/11 ... the cultural left and its allies in Congress, the media, Hollywood, the non-profit sector and the universities are the primary cause of the volcano of anger toward America that is erupting from the Islamic world. ^[2]

One of the country's most successful rightist authors and speakers, D'Souza is routinely paid 10,000 or more for his lectures and has made millions from his books and conservative commentary. The San Diego Reader reported in April 2005:

Since Dartmouth, the conservative fray has been quite remunerative for D'Souza. Six years ago, he and his wife bought their home in Fairbanks Ranch. The nearly 8000-square-foot house has six bedrooms, seven and a half baths, and a four-car garage, where they keep their maroon 1992 Jaguar XJS.^[3].

D'Souza's speaking engagements can often cause controversy, with both vocal supporters and critics reacting to his views and work. In November 1998, for instance, he was scheduled to speak at Columbia University at an academic conference titled "A Place At The Table: Conservative Ideas in Higher Education." The student population began protesting early in the morning, chanting loudly and holding signs that read slogans such as "Go Home Racists, Go Home Bigots." The university administration decided to cancel the conference.

D'Souza does not make many television appearances, but he has appeared a few times on CNN. ^{[4] [5]} Other media appearances include ABC's Nightline, CBS's Face the Nation, FOX News Channel's Hannity & Colmes, MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, and CNBC's Dennis Miller.

During an interview on The Colbert Report on January 16, 2007, while promoting his book, The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11, D'Souza blamed liberals for causing the September 11, 2001 attacks. He says they convinced the Carter administration to withdraw support from the Shah, which allowed Muslim fundamentalists to take control of the Iranian government. He also stated that the distorted representation of American culture on television is one of the main sources of resentment of the U.S. by Muslims worldwide. D'Souza believes that while traditional Muslims are not too different from traditional Jews and Christians in America, in the media only liberal America is depicted, which by traditional standards is morally depraved; and this false image of America that is broadcast to the world both turns people in traditional cultures against America and is destructive to the traditional societies themselves.

This thesis has been widely disputed by, among others, prominent conservatives such as Michelle Malkin and Hugh Hewitt, who contend that D'Souza openly sympathizes with Al Queda in "The Enemy At Home", and who contend that his thesis that Muslim radicals would not hate the United States if not for cultural liberalism is a myth.

D'Souza's book caused a controversy in the conservative movement, invoking a barrage of attacks back and fourth between D'Souza and his conservative critics who widely mocked the thesis of his book, that the cultural left was responsible for 9/11. In response to his critics, he posted a 6,500-word essay on National Review Online responding, and NRO subsequently published a litany of responses from conservative authors who accused D'Souza of character assassination, elitism and pseudointellectualism.[1]

Conservative commentator Roger Kimball mocked D'Souza after the publication of his book, stating: "Starting out from that mistake, D’Souza takes readers on a fantastical voyage in which white is black, day is night, and a dozen jihadists plowed jetliners into skyscrapers because of Britney Spears—or maybe it was because of Hillary Clinton, America’s high divorce-rate, or its lamentable practice of tolerating homosexuals instead of stoning them to death."[2]

D'Souza is of Indian origin. His parents come from the state of Goa in Western India (hence the Portuguese surname). D'Souza is married to Dixie D'Souza, with whom he has a daughter, and resides in suburban San Diego, California.

Prior to his marriage, D'Souza had relationships with two well-known female conservatives, Laura Ingraham, a nationally-syndicated radio commentator to whom he was engaged but never married, and best-selling conservative author and commentator Ann Coulter[3].

Books authored by Dinesh D'Souza include:

• 1984: Falwell, Before the Millennium: A Critical Biography, Regnery Publishing (ISBN 0-89526-607-5)
• 1986: The Catholic Classics (ISBN 0-87973-545-7)
• 1987: My Dear Alex: Letters From The KGB (with Gregory Fossedal), Regnery Publishing (ISBN 0-89526-576-1)
• 1991: Illiberal Education (ISBN 0-684-86384-7)
• 1995: The End of Racism (ISBN 0-684-82524-4)
• 1997: Ronald Reagan: How An Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader (ISBN 0-684-84823-6)
• 2000: The Virtue of Prosperity (ISBN 0-684-86815-6)
• 2002: What's So Great About America, Regnery Publishing (ISBN 0-89526-153-7)
• 2002: Letters to a Young Conservative (ISBN 0-465-01734-7)
• 2007: The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11 (ISBN 0-385-51012-8)

Articles written by Dinesh D’Souza include:

• Moon's Planet: The Politics and Theology of the Unification Church
• Ten Great Things About America
• How Ronald Reagan Won The Cold War
• Technology And Moral Progress
• We the Slaveowners: In Jefferson's America, Were Some Men Not Created Equal?
• The Self Esteem Hoax
• Two Cheers For Colonialism
• Reagan Versus The Intellectuals
• The Crimes of Christopher Columbus [4]
• 10 things to celebrate: Why I'm an anti-anti-American [5]
• God Knows Why Faith is Thriving [6]

1. ^ http://www.isthatlegal.org/images/cap3.pdf
2. ^ http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/01/20/d_souza/index.html
3. ^ http://www.sdreader.com/php/cover.php?mode=article&showpg=1&id=20050414
4. ^ http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/05/30/campus.balkanization/index.html
5. ^ http://mediamatters.org/items/200406080008

• Dinesh D'Souza Official Web Site.
• Dinesh D'Souza's New Blog On AOL.COM.
• Dinesh D'Souza profile at NNDB.
• Dinesh D'Souza profile at IMDB.
• "The Controversialist", San Diego Reader, April 14, 2005.
• "Old-School Headache", Seattle Weekly, February 1, 2006.
• "Teachers Accuse Lakeside School of Bias", SeattlePI.com, October 13, 2006.
• "God Knows Why Faith is Thriving", by Dinesh D'Souza, San Francisco Chronicle, October 22, 2006.
• Debate between Tim Wise and Dinesh D'Souza (held at The Evergreen State College, 1996).
• Appearance on the Colbert Report, 16 January 2007.