The Life Behind the Dance

The Life Behind the Dance

by | Sep 30, 2018

Anthony Powell: Dancing to the Music of Time by Hilary Spurling. Hamish Hamilton, 2017 (Knopf 2018). Hardcover, 509 pages, $29.70. Reviewed by James Baresel Over four decades ago the novelist Anthony Powell asked his friend Hilary Spurling if she was willing to be his...
What We Once Knew About Global Influence

What We Once Knew About Global Influence

by | Sep 30, 2018

Oceans Ventured: Winning the Cold War at Sea by John Lehman. W. W. Norton & Company, 2018. Hardcover, 368 pages, $28. Reviewed by Francis P. Sempa There are still many foreign policy “experts” who refuse to credit the policies of President Ronald Reagan for the...
A Woman Who Reads

A Woman Who Reads

by | Sep 30, 2018

Book Girl: A Journey through the Treasures and Transforming Power of a Reading Life By Sarah Clarkson. Tyndale Momentum, 2018. Paperback, 288 pages, $16. Reviewed by Ashlee Cowles What does it mean to be a woman who reads? This is the primary question Sarah Clarkson...
Judging as Realpolitik

Judging as Realpolitik

by | Sep 23, 2018

The Judge: 26 Machiavellian Lessons By Ronald K. L. Collins and David M. Skover. Oxford University Press, 2017. Cloth, 296 pages, $28. Reviewed by Stephen B. Presser As the controversies surrounding the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s second nominee...
Supporting Statecraft

Supporting Statecraft

by | Sep 23, 2018

The Secret World: A History of Intelligence by Christopher Andrew. Yale University Press, 2018. Hardcover, 960 pages, $40. Reviewed by Michael J. Ard “The further backwards you look, the further forward you can see.” This quote by Winston Churchill sums up the guiding...