Literature and the Contract of Eternal Society

by | Aug 26, 2010

Some years ago, I walked across the braes from Old Cumnock, in Ayrshire, to the village of Ochiltree. Now Ochiltree is the “Barbie” of George Douglas Brown’s grim realistic novel The House with the Green Shutters. And the Scottish village of Ochiltree is dying. Brown...

The Moral Conservatism of Hawthorne

by | Aug 26, 2010

Conservatism in America, though so often defeated at the polls, always has held its head high among men of letters. And in some ways the most influential American writer of conservative instincts was Nathaniel Hawthorne, the “boned pirate,” the master of allegory,...

Kirk in Traverse Magazine

by | Aug 24, 2010

John J. Miller has a lovely article about Dr. Kirk and his life and legacy in the January issue of Traverse Magazine, now released online. Take a look.

The Measure of Abraham Lincoln

by | Aug 23, 2010

“Whatever the result of the convulsion whose first shocks were beginning to be felt, there would still be enough square miles of earth for elbow-room; but that ineffable sentiment made up of memory and hope, of instinct and tradition, which swells every man’s heart...

Education and the Information Revolution

by | Aug 22, 2010

The major ceremonies of the academic community have traditionally been the fall convocation and the spring commencement. This year Russell Kirk, a nationally recognized historian, author, educator and political theorist, played an important role in Grand Valley’s...