[Note: Every Friday on First Thoughts we host a discussion about some aspect of pop culture. Today’s theme is childhood fads. Have a suggestion for a topic? Send them to me at jcarter@firstthings.com.] They were the best of fads, they were the worst of fads—all at the same time. The faddish . . . . Continue Reading »
The Library of Congress has announced that W.S. Merwin will be America’s next poet laureate. About his poetry, there is something to say—but less, perhaps, than you might think, given the prizes he’s won. Still, you remember poems like his one about the expatriate who realizes . . . . Continue Reading »
Is it time for change? Few of us need to be persuaded that our culture is due for significant social and spiritual renewal. It seems to me, though, that we have not taken seriously enough the magnitude of the challenge. We have especially not reckoned properly with the need for change among . . . . Continue Reading »
Two years ago I read Civilizing Authority: Society, State, and Church, edited by Patrick McKinley Brennan. It contains a number of noteworthy essays, the most intriguing of which is by J. Budziszewski, who writes on “How a Constitution May Undermine Constitutionalism.”Four years ago in . . . . Continue Reading »
I have not engaged this issue—whether abortion increases the risk of breast cancer—but have noticed the feverish drive to discredit any such link—the emotionality of which makes me think that the objections have more to do with politics than science. Be that as it may, a new . . . . Continue Reading »
I’m catching up on my reading, and was struck by a witty and helpful discussion of biblical interpretation by Shalom Carmy in the Spring issue of Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought . In his editorial for this issue, Carmy (a First Things contributor) uses the clever ambiguities . . . . Continue Reading »
How did Krakens become the hot-new sea monster? You hear about Krakens all the time now (see: Clash of the Titans , Pirates of the Caribbean , Alfred Tennyson poems), yet you never hear much about Leviathan. This is an outrage. With a Kraken you can play with him as with a bird, or put him on a . . . . Continue Reading »
In my inbox today, a press release about a new documentary , Huxley on Huxley , which is being released on July 26, the anniversary of Aldous Huxley’s birthday. Huxley was a force, of course—but who now reads such novels as Crome Yellow or After Many a Summer Dies the Swan ? He was a . . . . Continue Reading »
Researchers at the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka have found that women who have had abortions are three times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer later in life. Actually, this is old news; I remember hearing about this years ago, and it’s the fourth study performed in fourteen . . . . Continue Reading »
Apparently, even pre-industrial humans were environmental villains. A new study blames our ancestors for starting global warming by wiping out the mammoths. From the story:Mammoths used to roam modern-day Russia and North America, but are now extinct—and there’s evidence that around . . . . Continue Reading »
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