The Superhero and the City
Superhero Ethics: 10 Comic Book Heroes; 10 Ways to Save the World; Which One Do We Need Most Now? by Travis Smith. Templeton Press, 2018. Hardcover, 190 pages, $25. Reviewed by Ryan Shinkel Classical art imitated life to cultivate it. In Greek sculpture, great souls...
Hope When There’s Nowhere to Hide
A Quiet PLace Directed by John Krasinski. Paramount, 2018. Run time: 90 minutes. Reviewed by Ryan Shinkel Apocalypses are one way to get religious at the box office. End times unveil moral character as wheat from chaff: the hopeful sacrifice for a better future while...
The Neighborliness Not Taken
Won’t You Be My Neighbor directed by Morgan Neville. Tremolo Productions, 2018. Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes. By Ryan Shinkel The neighborhood could have never been that friendly. There must have been scars or tattoos underneath all his sweaters, my fellow...What Can We Learn from Ancient Sophistry?
Sophistry and Political Philosophy: Protagoras’ Challenge to Socrates by Robert C. Bartlett. University of Chicago Press, 2016. Hardcover, 272 pages, $40. Reviewed by Ryan Shinkel One should be silent where one cannot speak, philosophy says, yet sophistry somehow...
There are metaphorical hills on which I would be willing to die. The Oxford comma is one of them.
So easy to forget that the best way to educate yourself is to read great works of literature and philosophy, then talk about them. Bring back the salon!