Not quite thirty years ago, I sketched out a book-length history of the American political right. I had read and enjoyed George Nash’s and Jay Sigler’s tomes, but felt they were both a little dated and had excluded essential thinkers and developments. I also felt that academe, which I was in training to join, had given the […]
U.S. Returns Magna Carta to England: A C...
Today, January 20, 2015, America bids farewell to the Magna Carta. The 800-year old document returns home to Lincolnshire, England after six months in America. It landed at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts in July, and spent the past few months at the Library of Congress. This copy of the Magna Carta visited here once […]
Research Note: Isaiah Berlin and the Pol...
The more difficult times are, the more intense the demand for simple solutions. This seems to be the case for both individuals and groups, be they corporations, religions, or nations. The February 25, 2010 issue of the New York Review of Books carried some short essays on Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997). Nicholas Kristof of the New […]
Tony Judt Confronts Death
Tony Judt is dying. In less than two years, he has gone from a healthy man to a quadriplegic who relies on a machine to breathe. He has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is a terrible disease, one that Judt likens to “progressive imprisonment without parole.” The body dies, but there […]
Sam Tanenhaus, The Death of Conservatism...
A Thoughtful Take on the Travails of Modern Conservatism, by Kevin R. Kosar, October 29, 2009 A cacophony of voices have taken up the topic of “what’s wrong with the right?” Sam Tanenhaus, editor of the New York Times Book Review, has written an engaging book on the subject. Tanenhaus’s stated interest is in conservatism […]
Atlantic Article on Happiness
In this lengthy piece, Shenk writes of a 72 year study of Harvard men and their well-being. It is an interesting read. Specialization in fields (sociology vs. biology vs. psychiatry vs…) is a good thing, but a side effect is that it has turned academia into a place that is not very welcoming to scholars […]