Cornuelle was featured in a December 1964 Look magazine cover story that called him "a former right-wing anarchist who chopped his way out of dark ideology toward a combination of principle and humane concern.

[5] In 1965, Cornuelle's first book, Reclaiming the American Dream,[6] argued that associations of volunteers could effectively solve social problems without recourse to heavy-handed bureaucracy.

De-Managing America (1976)[7] argued that the inefficiency of bureaucratic management required a turn toward decentralized methods of solving social problems.

[10] This essay was later expanded into an article in the scholarly journal Critical Review[11] Cornuelle was born in Elwood, Indiana and died in New York City.

His first marriage, to Sydney Walton, ended in divorce but produced three children: Suzanne Schutte, Jenny Krusoe, and Peter Cornuelle.