One cause of American society’s shift to the left over the past six decades has been a series of subtle acts of “progress” that, at their inception, did not appear to be political at all. Only after their acceptance did their implications become clear. An example, one (apparently) far from . . . . Continue Reading »
In the spring of 1941, as Hitler was laying plans for his invasion of the Soviet Union, Leo Strauss gave a lecture at the New School for Social Research as part of a seminar on “Experiences of the Second World War.” The lecture, which was not published until five decades later, marked one of the . . . . Continue Reading »
I was seventeen when my father and I embarked on the long flight to Denver from Amsterdam, with a layover in London. He read George Eliot; I read Batman: The Long Halloween. It was dark by the time we checked into the hotel, and still dark the next morning when we set out in our rental car. We drove . . . . Continue Reading »
Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass” (1 Sam. 15:3). The question of divine violence in the Old Testament is hardly a new one for Christians. Non-Christian opponents and . . . . Continue Reading »
Capitalism is best understood as the modern ambition to order and value all available resources solely on the basis of market principles. As an “ism,” it functions as an ideal. We never achieve the all or the solely. At various stages in many countries, however, great efforts have . . . . Continue Reading »
We are no better than our ancestors. I firmly believe this, although apparently many others do not. My disagreement with prevailing opinion concerns more than current academic arrogance and anachronism with respect to our ancestors. I’m opposed to the sweeping trends of popular attitude and public . . . . Continue Reading »
Ten years ago in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Nashville, Tennessee, HarperCollins shut down its last two remaining U.S. warehouses, after a series of such closings had left an untold number of workers unemployed. CEO Brian Murray offered these words of corporate right-think: “We have taken a . . . . Continue Reading »
Holding a Mirror Up to Nature opens with the story of Walter Manstein, “a distinguished-looking man in his late forties” with a successful career as a publisher. On the night of their twentieth wedding anniversary, Manstein strangled his wife to death with the leash of her pet dog. . . . . Continue Reading »
A couple of years ago I stumbled upon a cult. Browsing in a secondhand bookshop, I picked up R. H. Tawney’s Religion and the Rise of Capitalism and, remembering a vague resolution to read it one day, took it to the counter. The fresh-faced student at the cash register was delighted. . . . . Continue Reading »
In 1938 Franklin Roosevelt, facing a political challenge from a resurgent Republican Party, denounced the party’s “fascist” tendencies. It was an early example of how the term could be applied even to conservatives loyal to the framework of a liberal democracy. One might have expected this . . . . Continue Reading »
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