Restoring American Statuary
by Catesby LeighIf the White House manages the creation of the recently mandated National Garden of American Heroes thoughtfully, its value could run deeper than our political fault lines. Continue Reading »
Venice Afloat
by Catesby LeighAn observer of a Spenglerian bent might just write Venice off, taking the floods that afflict the city with increasing frequency as the finishing touches on a long-running spectacle of political, economic, and cultural decline. That decline, spanning half a millennium, has by now reduced the city to . . . . Continue Reading »
An Ordinary Life
by Noël ValisThe Old French word ordinarie, meaning “ordinary, usual,” derives from the medieval Latin ordinarius (“customary, regular, usual, ordinary”), which derives in turn from the classical Latin ordo (“row, rank, series, arrangement”). Originally, it had no pejorative . . . . Continue Reading »
Evildoers and Their Art
by Peter HitchensEric Gill and Roman Polanski are both guilty of revolting crimes. But should we be punished by being deprived of the results of their undeniable talent? Continue Reading »
Building to No Purpose
by Catesby LeighArchitecture can reflect the progress of a civilization, but Hudson Yards is not about civilization. Its buildings reflect the futility of a “progressive” design sensibility cut off from the past and wedded to novelty and formal dissonance as ends in themselves. The mixed-use development rises . . . . Continue Reading »
Of Cigarettes and Grace
by Joshua HrenF. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “Thank You for the Light” captures how Christ transfigures the mundane. Continue Reading »
What She Asks, She Obtains
by Stephen SchmalhoferThe Virgin's influence extends to American art. Continue Reading »
Stefan Zweig, European Man
by Joseph EpsteinThe Collected Novellas of Stefan Zweig by stefan zweig translated by anthea bell pushkin, 384 pages, $30 The Collected Stories of Stefan Zweig by stefan zweig translated by anthea bell pushkin, 720 pages, $14.99 The World of Yesterday by stefan zweig translated by anthea bell . . . . Continue Reading »
Crimes in Concrete
by Theodore DalrympleMaking Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism by james stevens curl oxford, 592 pages, $60 In a recent debate in Prospect magazine on the question of whether modern architecture has ruined British towns and cities, Professor James Stevens Curl, . . . . Continue Reading »
Letters
by Variousliberal politesse R. R. Reno’s point in “The Civility Trap” (March) is well-taken: Nobody on the wrong side of contemporary liberalism, either to its right or left, would likely disagree that the expectation of civility masks exercises in raw power. Manners aren’t simply politic, in other . . . . Continue Reading »
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