History on Improper Principles

History on Improper Principles

Conservative at the Core: A New History of American Conservatism By Allan J. Lichtman. University of Notre Dame Press, 2025. Hardcover, 376 pages, $32. Reviewed by Michael Lucchese. For a decade now, the American Left has utterly failed to understand the forces behind...
William F. Buckley’s Cold War

William F. Buckley’s Cold War

The Fall of the Berlin Wall By William F. Buckley, Jr.  John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2004. Hardcover, 212 pages, $19.95. Reviewed by Michael Lucchese. As conservatives mark the centenary of William F. Buckley, Jr.’s birth, one of the most-celebrated aspects of his...
The Postmodern Poetry of J.R.R. Tolkien

The Postmodern Poetry of J.R.R. Tolkien

The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien: Three-Volume Box Set By J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond. William Morrow, 2024. Hardcover, 1728 pages, $125. Reviewed by Michael Lucchese. J.R.R. Tolkien surely ranks among the greatest novelists...
Yuval Levin’s Stirring Defense of the Constitution

Yuval Levin’s Stirring Defense of the Constitution

American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation―and Could Again By Yuval Levin. Basic Books, 2024. Hardcover, 352 pages, $32. Reviewed by Michael Lucchese. Something has gone wrong with America. Even among the politically disengaged, one can detect a...
Conservative Humanism for a Postmodern Age

Conservative Humanism for a Postmodern Age

The Wisdom of Our Ancestors: Conservative Humanism and the Western Tradition By Graham James McAleer and Alexander S. Rosenthal-Pubul. University of Notre Dame Press, 2023. Hardcover, 314 pages, $55.00. Reviewed by Michael Lucchese. Graham McAleer and Alexander...