Halting the Assembly Line Life
Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic: Ancient Christianity and the Recovery of Human Dignity By Nadya Williams. IVP Academic, 2024. Paperback, 240 pages, $26. Reviewed by Sarah Reardon. On the walls of the birth center sit posters about birth control. In the office...
Looking at U.S. Trade Policy Through a Historical Lens
Clashing Over Commerce: A History of U.S. Trade Policy By Douglas A. Irwin. University of Chicago Press, 2017. Hardcover, 832 pages, $38. Reviewed by Frank Filocomo. The Trump years have thrust trade policy back into the national conversation for the first time since...
The Mystery of Imitation
All Desire is a Desire for Being By René Girard, Edited and Introduced by Cynthia L. Haven. Penguin Classics, 2024. Paperback, 336 pages, $18. Reviewed by Justin D. Garrison. In All Desire is a Desire for Being, Cynthia L. Haven has produced the first edited volume of...
An Italian Apologia for the American Electoral System
Come si USA. Guida (e curiosità) per l’elezione del presidente americano By Marco Respinti. D’Ettoris editore, 2024. Paperback, 100 pages, 12,40€. Reviewed by Carolina Riva Posse. Emilio Komar was a Slovenian-Argentinian philosopher, an immigrant, and an heir...
A Look at the 2024 Richard D. McLellan Prizes Gala
A Look at the 2024 Richard D. McLellan Prizes Gala On December 5, 2024, the Russell Kirk Center gathered at the Amway Grand Plaza with a full crowd for the inaugural McLellan Prizes free speech celebration with Greg Lukianoff, Samuel Goldman, Josiah Joner, Luke...
The Centrality of Civic Virtue
The Roots of Liberalism: What Faithful Knights and the Little Match Girl Taught Us about Civic Virtue By F. H. Buckley. Encounter Books, 2024. Hardcover, 296 pages, $32.99. Reviewed by David Hein. In his latest book, F. H. Buckley, a professor at George Mason...
Revivifying the Conservative Movement
Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America By Kevin D. Roberts. Broadside Books, 2024. Hardcover, 304 pages, $32. Reviewed by Daniel Pitt. In March 1916, C.S. Lewis, the British Christian apologist, wrote in a letter to one of his closest friends,...
Virtuous Living, Not Just for Philosophers
Super Habits: The Universal System for a Successful Life By Andrew V. Abela. Sophia Institute Press, 2024. Hardcover, 288 pages, $24.95 Reviewed by Paul D. Mueller. If Thomas Aquinas were to write a book on virtue for business people in the twenty-first century, it...
Irving Babbitt’s Defense of the Humanities
Democracy and Leadership By Irving Babbitt. Liberty Fund, 1979 (1924). Paperback, 392 pages, $14.50. Reviewed by Darrell Falconburg. Irving Babbitt’s Democracy and Leadership celebrated its centenary in 2024. We asked several Babbitt scholars to reflect upon its...
"Haven’s book is an engaging introduction to Girard. Reading through its presentation of the components and explanatory power of mimetic theory, it becomes clear Americans have arrived at a time for a very different kind of choosing."
"Knowing the truth about scapegoating does not mean it has been abandoned. Indeed, while people have become increasingly good at seeing the scapegoats of others as just that, scapegoats, they remain convinced their enemies really are evil."