Egyptian Modernity
by Peter J. LeithartThe modern world owes more to ancient Egypt than we might guess. Continue Reading »
More Manent
by Carl ScottFrom the City Journal, this time, a full essay, with a title that says it all “City, Empire, Church, Nation.” Here’s a taste: During the premodern era, competing political forms—the city, the empire, and the Church—checked one another, so it was necessary to . . . . Continue Reading »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #52: Rock Recycle-ment Explained
by Carl ScottThis is the conclusion of the long series of Songbook posts kicked off by my simple observation that many bands championed as representative of new music , such as Crystal Castles, really aren’t . While many themes have been touched upon, overall, Songbook posts #36-51 have been about 1) . . . . Continue Reading »
The Marx-Shaped Void: Bernard Yack on Alasdair MacIntyre and Monolithic Modernity
by Carl ScottFrom a book review highlighted by our friends at First Thoughts: “Marxists can account for the singular, closed character of modern society by invoking Marx’s theory of historical materialism. As we produce, so we are. Our families, our friendships, our associations, our imagination, . . . . Continue Reading »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #30: The Byrds, “Why?”
by Carl ScottIt didn’t become a hit, but this version does contain one of the band’s better guitar solos, and what matters more for our purposes, anti-oligarchic lyrics. (Read my long post below to see what I mean by oligarchic.) Here’s how it starts: You keep sayin’ no to her, Ever since . . . . Continue Reading »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #29: Cary Grant Did Acid
by Carl ScottOkay, here’s a shorter way, for those of you who haven’t the patience for my full cinemascopic link-littered prose, to get at what I mean by Intermediate Modernity In Book VIII Republic terms, intermediate-modernity was the era of the self-repressing Oligarchic Soul, and “the . . . . Continue Reading »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #28: Intermediate Modernity
by Carl ScottHere’s 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 »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #26: The Three Stages of Modernity
by Carl ScottThe Songbook inevitably has to analyze modernity, precisely because it is interested more in what rock reveals about our overall sociological and spiritual situation than it is in rock itself. So what follows are two organizing posts concerning this. Here, I’ll quickly lay out my . . . . Continue Reading »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #7: Duke Ellington, “Come Sunday,” and The Velvet Underground, “Sunday Morning”
by Carl ScottFor the seventh Songbook entry, it’s time for sounds that remind us of, or at least make us long for, God’s goodness. Here are two pieces I can recommend unequivocally as fine music, one initially composed without words, from the jazz tradition but veering into the classical, and another . . . . Continue Reading »
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