The book Where Have All the Democrats Gone? The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes reads like a sixties memoir. The two authors, John Judis and Ruy Teixeira, both boomers, describe the massive decline of the left, especially since the sixties. The two authors, who wrote an earlier optimistic … Read more
“If we do not reverse this trend—if millions of American children miss out on the benefits that come from a two-parent home and if the family gap continues to widen—then children will suffer, inequality will continue to widen, and social mobility will erode. We will be a weaker, more fragmented, less prosperous … Read more
A Review by Michael Whitcraft of The Apple of His Eye: Converts From Islam in the Reign of Louis IX, by William Chester Gordon. When dying on the Cross, one of the suffering Christ’s last words was: “I thirst.” Exegetes throughout history have taught that, in addition to the tremendous physical thirst … Read more
“Order is the first need of the soul” — Russell Kirk. Given that the current crisis is principally economic in nature, an economic theme constitutes the main focus of this aptly named book. Without descending to the level of a technical treatise, John Horvat (see website here) offers an analysis of a … Read more
Some people are so passionate about their perspectives that they are blinded to what’s happening around them. They may see the same facts as others. However, when driven by an intense desire to fit these facts into a narrative, it can lead to distortion. Such is the impression of the 2023 book, … Read more
If there is a figure that is not a role model, it is Prince Harry, son of Charles III of the United Kingdom. His ghostwriter-assisted memoir, Spare, presents not a fairy tale prince but a postmodern anti-hero intent upon destroying the ancient structures around him. The sordid details of the author’s tragic … Read more
Yoram Hazony’s 2022 book, Conservatism: A Rediscovery, comes at a time when the conservative movement is soul-searching and questioning. Conservatives are asking what is to be conserved. They seek to know what they are fighting for, not who they are fighting against. As liberalism decays, many, like the author, dispute with those … Read more
Ever since Vladimir Putin came to power in Russia twenty-two years ago, Western observers have tried to discern his ideology. Is he a Russian nationalist bent on reconstituting the Russian Empire or a neo-Communist, angry over the collapse of the Soviet Union? Perhaps he’s simply a “patriot” without any actual ideology but … Read more
For nearly five hundred years, scholars and historians have referred to anything backward and primitive as coming from the “Dark Ages.” The term was created to refer to medieval times, which some say were mired in darkness and backwardness. Typical of this misconception is the 2020 introduction of the book: World After … Read more
Some books are valuable for what they don’t say. They describe the state of the culture and inadvertently indicate where society is headed even while trying to prove the opposite. The small book, A World After Liberalism: Philosophers of the Radical Right, is one such work. Author Matthew Rose constructs a defense … Read more