A Forward-Thinking Conservatism
There has been much commentary concerning a recent David Brooks editorial that in turn cites Rod Dreher’s article on what it means to be a conservative. Both Brooks and Dreher return to Kirk and his ten principles of conservatism, to define what Brooks describes as...Omnipotence Is Provisional
A conversation with Will Self.Will Self was born in London in 1961 and published his first book of short stories, The Quantity Theory of Insanity, in 1991. To date he has published nine novels, three novellas, six collections of short fiction, and six books of...The Anatomy of the Good
Putting on Virtue: The Legacy of the Splendid Vices by Jennifer A. Herdt. University of Chicago Press, [2008] 2012. Paper, 467 pages, $35.“’Tis hard to believe,” wrote Michel de Montaigne in his essay “On Virtue,” “that these so elevated qualities in a man can so...
Natural Law or Nihilism?
The Wise Men Know What Wicked Things Are Written on the Sky by Russell Kirk. Regnery Gateway (1987), 132 pp. Although Dr. Kirk knows how hard the tempest of our time really rages, he has not fled or been driven to the heath like Lear or Lear’s fool. His insight is...Endless Game of Thrones
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin (5 of 7 planned volumes). Bantam, 1996–2012. Paper, 5232 pages, $75. The embarrassment of narrative in a radically skeptical postmodern world is that it implies meaning. Simply constructing a story with beginning,...
Dos Passos: A Reassessment
Jean-Paul Sartre once called John Dos Passos [1896–1970] “the greatest novelist of the century,” a judgment which he did not hold alone.[1] Yet now, though Dos Passos has continued to write, few seem willing to rate him so highly. His biographer, John Wrenn, states...Books in Little
Beyond Distributism by Thomas E. Woods Acton Institute, 2012, 79 pages, $3. The Bookman has long been an admirer of what has been called distributism, a social/economic theory that combines a preference for localism in politics and business, a strong agrarian focus,...Cliché on a Hill
A conversation with Richard M. Gamble.Professor Richard Gamble, a Bookman contributor, holds the Anna Margaret Ross Alexander chair in history and political science at Hillsdale College. He has recently published In Search of the City on a Hill: The Making and...Our Rascally World
On Essays and LettersIn a letter of Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) addressed to the poet Alexander Pope (1688–1744), dated September 29, 1725, Swift spoke of returning to the grand monde of Dublin, to deal with various curates and vicars, and to “correct allcorruptions...
Kirk saw poetry, fiction, tradition, and restraint as essential to understanding America and preserving its character. In his review of "On America," @cjscalia explores Kirk’s vision of the founding, statesmanship, literature, and the enduring ideas that have shaped the republic.