Conjuring Pushkin

by Peter Wood

A review of Jonathan Leaf's Pushkin: A Life Played Out. Continue Reading »

18 Sep 2018

Sentiment Without Sentimentality

by John Wilson

A review of Donald Hall’s A Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety. Continue Reading »

14 Sep 2018

The Gold Virgin

by Kenneth Colston

When conventions are aligned with morality, keeping up appearances is sane.  Continue Reading »

13 Sep 2018

Washington’s Warning

by Mark Movsesian

Canova's statue of George Washington warns against straying from republican virtues in a quest for empire. Continue Reading »

23 Aug 2018

When Older Tech Is Better

by K. E. Colombini

Old tech beckons us to pause rather than react; to think, rather than do. Continue Reading »

20 Aug 2018

Sex, Fear, and Idolatry

by Angela Franks

R. Marie Griffith's work is well researched, but conceptually thin. Continue Reading »

14 Aug 2018

Getting Out of God’s Way

by John Waters

The twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous disintegrate arrogance, clearing the way for Grace to enter. Continue Reading »

2 Aug 2018

Understanding Marion Maréchal

by Nathan Pinkoski

Since the 1980s, the French left and right have formed a front républicain or cordon sanitaire to keep the Front national (FN) out of power. When Jean-Marie Le Pen’s daughter Marine took over the party in 2011, she understood that the only road to electoral success . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2018

Culture War As Class War

by Darel E. Paul

The ongoing uproar after the election of Donald Trump led the sociologist James Davison Hunter to reflect in a fresh way on the engines driving political conflict and social division. Back in the early 1990s, he popularized the phrase “culture war,” the now-indispensable term to describe the . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2018

Cultural Realpolitik

by Matthew Schmitz

On a clear June day in 2017, two million people lined the route of the New York ­Pride Parade to cheer as floats sponsored by Deutsche Telekom, Nissan, Facebook, and Toronto-Dominion Bank went by. Marchers wearing #Resistance T-shirts led the way, followed by ranks of New York’s Finest marching . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2018