R. R. Reno

The drama of human history cannot be reduced to considerations of material wealth. The threats—or opportunities—posed by Putin’s Russia are a function of the countless free decisions made by leaders there and elsewhere, and those of their followers. Continue Reading »

The first chapter of Genesis is a grand liturgy of creation. The second chapter describes with existential immediacy the universal human longing for fulfillment. Subsequent chapters are given over to disaster and destruction. The primordial man and woman set human history on its path toward . . . . Continue Reading »

♦ An exchange of emails by Clintonistas, available courtesy of WikiLeaks, has provoked a great deal of commentary. The chain starts with a message from John Halpin, a fellow at the Center for American Progress. He’s writing to John Podesta, chairman of the Clinton campaign, and Jennifer . . . . Continue Reading »

It’s only in retrospect that I fully understand Fidel’s allure for the West: He reassured us that we had real and profound political choices to make. Continue Reading »

♦ During the late summer fuss over bikinis, burkinis, and the clash of civilizations on French beaches, I came across some interesting data. A recent Pew Global Research survey reports that 29 percent of French who were polled have a negative view of Islam, while 35 percent of those in the . . . . Continue Reading »

It’s a full-throated endorsement of Donald Trump’s candidacy. Written with pungency, “The Flight 93 Election” was published on the Claremont Review of Books website under the name Publius Decius Mus, a fourth-century b.c. Roman consul whose heroic self-sacrifice in battle saved the day for . . . . Continue Reading »

♦ Early in July, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia issued a set of guidelines for implementing Pope Francis’s ­apostolic exhortation on marriage and family, Amoris Laetitia. The document urges the Church’s pastors to recognize that Catholics ­today are often profoundly misled by the prevailing . . . . Continue Reading »

I don’t think we’ve fully realized how acute feelings of vulnerability have become in twenty-first-century America. At prestigious universities, young people with every reason to believe they’ll land on the top end of society nevertheless feel threatened, so much so that some call for . . . . Continue Reading »

I don’t recall candidates in past debates appealing so directly to the technocratic virtues. I wonder whether ordinary voters found this off-putting. If they did, Trump failed to exploit the opening. Continue Reading »

Were Disraeli reincarnated as a Republican politician, our establishment would very likely find him as distressing as they currently find Trump. Continue Reading »