Desire Is the Human Condition

Desire Is the Human Condition

Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis. St Martins Press, 2021. Hardcover, 304 pp, $29. Reviewed by Thomas J Bevan “All are lunatics,” Ambrose Bierce once said, “but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher.” And the...
Wild, and the Problem of Evil

Wild, and the Problem of Evil

All Things Left Wild: A Novel by James Wade. Blackstone Publishing, 2020. Hardcover, 304 pages, $28. Reviewed by‏ Christopher Landrum Life in itself is neither good nor evil; it is the scene of good or evil, as you make it. And, if you have lived a day, you have seen...
‘God, If There Was a God’

‘God, If There Was a God’

Missionaries: A Novel by Phil Klay. Penguin Press, 2020, Hardcover, 416 pages, $28. Reviewed by Joshua Hren It isn’t surprising that Joseph Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity begins by immersing us in the rejection thereof, the highways of doubt and the...
A People’s History of Philadelphia

A People’s History of Philadelphia

Philadelphia Stories: People and Their Places in Early America by C. Dallett Hemphill, edited by Rodney Hessinger and Daniel K. Richter. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021. Hardcover, 392 pages, $35. Reviewed by Addison Del Mastro Philadelphia Stories: People and...
The Place of Punctuation in Literary Art

The Place of Punctuation in Literary Art

Mark My Words: Profiles of Punctuation in Modern Literature by Lee Clark Mitchell. Bloomsbury Academic, 2020. Softcover, 166 pages, $15. Reviewed by Oliver Spivey Many literature professors have long expressed their embarrassment at simply professing literature. Not...