The Tool of Selective Nostalgia
by Peter LawlerIn defense of a rigorously selective form of nostalgia. Continue Reading »
In defense of a rigorously selective form of nostalgia. Continue Reading »
Have any of you seen the Eric Rohmer film 4 Aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle? Its sort of a retelling of the Country Mouse, City Mouse story. Two young women, one from the country, one from the city, are thrown together and become friends. They represent a certain sophistication . . . . Continue Reading »
Another of Tocquevilles possibilities, that is, that sometimes its the laws that shape the mores. For never did laws/regime/ideology degrade mores more than in the communist countries. Kopplekamms stunning slide show of East Berlin buildings . . . . Continue Reading »
Ampontan has some nice juxtapositions, jumping off Victor Davis Hanson among others, highlighting the culture-and-mores-rooted FACT that Greece, Southern Italy, Detroit, and urban Britain are simply more difficult and troublesome places to live than Germany, Northern Italy, Switzerland, and of . . . . Continue Reading »
Lets start off soberly, even on a note of august regret. One of the things Thomas Jefferson and John Adams agreed upon was that the primary point of republican popular suffrage was to elect a natural aristocracy . The same hope and intention gets expressed, albeit in a more guardedly . . . . Continue Reading »
Martha Bayles is the author of the best book on pop music I know, Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music . For its final chapter, she borrows the title of a William Bell song, You Dont Miss Your Water til the Well Runs Dry , so as to refer to the . . . . Continue Reading »
In the thread below, Chantal Delsol graciously responded to my observation that her more recent book had dropped the occasional references to human nature used in earlier books. While still utilizing the term natural to reference to certain biological determinations, she affirmed that . . . . Continue Reading »
Heres the basic schema I laid out in #26 : 1) quasi-modernity approximately 1776 to 1918 2) intermediate modernity approximately 1919 to 1965 3) full modernity approximately 1966 to the present. Now, for some flesh upon these analytic bones. Everyone knows WWI and the 20s . . . . Continue Reading »
So you all know that you need to read Tocquevilles Democracy in America. But hey, thats a 600-page book! Well, heres the chapters you just cannot skip. I helped out a colleague with this recently, and I may as well pass the info onto yall. From volume one part one . . . . Continue Reading »
Before beginning, Ill note that Joe Carter is soliciting donations to the FT website please consider giving to what I obviously think is a fine internet crossroads of content. Tocquevilles concept of individualism is one of his most helpful, but often gets misunderstood due to our . . . . Continue Reading »