The lulls of the summer just past allowed some time for reading and reflecting, and three books in particular are worthy of review: The American Republic, by Orestes A. Brownson. Originally published in 1865, when the nation had just weathered its most serious challenge to its continued existence, Brownson provides a timely (for now as […]

Regular readers know that Margaret Thatcher is one of my heroes, and her latest book, Statecraft, did not disappoint. In fact, it added to my appreciation of her depth and common sense approach to policy. The book’s subtitle, Strategies for a Changing World, is appropriate, for it is a sweeping tour of the world’s conflicts […]

Speaking of Woodrow Wilson, it is often remarked that it is impossible to understand the past century, not to mention our current world problem spots, without a grasp of the world shaped by World War I and the subsequent Paris Peace Conference, in which Wilson was so heavily influential. For a comprehensive account of the […]

The title above is also the title of Francis Fukuyama’s latest book, which I have just completed. I have recommended him before (The End of History and the Last Man), and he continues to attract me with his penetrating insight on the most pressing issues. Here he traces our changing understanding of human nature through […]

My political philosophy group has been discussing A New Birth of Freedom, by Harry V. Jaffa, and I am now in my second reading. This is a masterful analysis of American political philosophy as defined by the Founders from its roots in the classical and Judeo-Christian traditions and as refined (or “re-defined” as some would […]

This summer, I have read three books that I recommend as a group to anyone who wants to understand the underlying currents of globalization and the new world order that is taking shape as a result. They are The Lexus and the Olive Tree, by Thomas L. Friedman, The End of History and the Last […]

If you want an easily readable and lively couple of hundred pages on our cultural dilemma, I recommend Lynne Cheney’s 1995 book, Telling The Truth. In it, she takes on multiculturalism, radical feminism, critical race theory, political correctness in its various forms, and other postmodern trends that have undermined our cultural, political, and educational institutions. […]

I have just read a short book by R. C. Sproul with the same title as this essay, in which he traces the key strains of Western philosophical thought from the Greeks to the present in order to illustrate the consequences of the ideas on our present condition (a kind of takeoff on Richard Weaver). […]