Notes from a Smaller, Freer Island

by | Jul 1, 2016

by Derek Turner Living on an island does strange things to souls. Being surrounded by water can even make whole nations feel they are under special protection—protected by Providence, singled out for Something. Some zephyr of open sea seems to reach to even the...

Books in Little: The Myth of Islamic Spain

by | Jun 27, 2016

The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain by Darío Fernández-Morera. ISI Books, 2016. Hardcover, 358 pages, $30.   This is a brave book, and one must assume that its author is tenured, for the book...

Burke in Full

by | Jun 20, 2016

Empire and Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke by Richard Bourke. Princeton University Press, 2015. Hardcover, 1032 pages, $45.Twenty-five years ago, Conor Cruise O’Brien entertained Burke enthusiasts with The Great Melody: now Richard Bourke is presenting...

Dark Night, Black Hopes

by | Jun 20, 2016

The Death of Christian Culture, by John Senior. Arlington House, Publishers, 1978 [Revised edition, IHS Press, 2008]. Paperback, 192 pages, $29.The last year has brought us a number of books that ought to serve as town criers to the West. While we have had a veritable...

Books in Little: Modern Culture

by | Jun 17, 2016

An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Modern Culture By Roger Scruton St. Augustine’s Press, 2000, New ed. 2016. Hardcover, 173 pp., $25. This slim volume is invaluable in setting forth clearly a critical overview of contemporary culture and cultural trends, and belongs on...

Anything but Bland Conformity

by | Jun 12, 2016

Collected Essays on Philosophers by Colin Wilson, edited by Colin Stanley. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016. Hardcover, 253 pages, $82. The British writer, thinker, and varsity intellectual nonconformist Colin Wilson (1931–2013) began his prolific authorial career...
The Enduring Wisdom of Bryce

The Enduring Wisdom of Bryce

by | Jun 12, 2016

The Hindrances to Good Citizenship, by James Bryce. Introduction by Howard G. Schneiderman. Transaction Publishers, 1993. 186 pp., $36. The most revealing fact in James Bryce’s study of the impediments to good citizenship in a democracy, which Howard G. Schneiderman...

A Forgotten American Horace

by | Jun 5, 2016

American Austen: The Forgotten Writing of Agnes Repplier by Agnes Repplier, Edited by John Lukacs. Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2009. Hardcover, 450 pages, $25. Who remembers Agnes Repplier? From her first essay in 1881 to her death in 1938 this half-Southern...