The Household Gods of Freedom
John Randolph of Roanoke: A Study in American Politics by Russell Kirk. Third ed., with select letters & speeches. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1978. [Fourth edition, 1997, cloth $24, paper $14.50.] For Southerners of my antique persuasion, Russell Kirk’s John...The Kind of Man Modernity Can Afford
Adventures of an Accidental Sociologist: How to Explain the World Without Becoming a Bore by Peter L. Berger. Prometheus Books, 2011, 264pp, hardcover, $26.A good friend studied sociology at Boston University where Peter Berger spent much of his career. He recalls...What Is Happening to History?
In 1979 millions of Americans will have spent twenty-three to twenty-six years (about one-third of their expectable lifespan) in schools without having had a single history course. During the late Sixties the majority of colleges and universities abandoned all history...Socratic and Secular Irony
A Case for Irony by Jonathan Lear. Harvard University Press, 2011, 210 pages, $30. Today we often misunderstand irony for sarcasm, self-detachment, or cleverness instead of a source of potential knowledge that can disrupt the mundane routine of our lives. Jonathan...Freedom Complex
On the Road to Emmaus: The Catholic Dialogue with America and Modernity by Glenn W. Olsen. The Catholic University of America Press, 2012. 303 pp., $70. The Gospel account of the disciples meeting Christ on the road to Emmaus has long been understood as a metaphor for...Belloc’s Social Thought
Hilaire Belloc, Edwardian Radical by John P. McCarthy. Liberty Press, 1978 [IHS Press, 2009, 373 pages.] To have known someone very intimately and loved him very dearly is not a good qualification for making a useful judgment of his work. Under these limitations, not...
Charles W. Colson
The Russell Kirk Center is sad to hear of the death of Chuck Colson. He will mostly be remembered for the wonderful work he did with prisoners, giving their lives dignity and meaning. After his time in prison, Colson devoted himself to cultural renewal, which he saw...Adrienne Rich and an Assessment of Contemporary American Poetry
April is National Poetry Month. It arrived with its usual fanfare: the poetry organizations in the United States breathlessly announcing the many events that they are sponsoring, again suggesting that this month and this art form are important culturally....Poetically Thinking
The Poetry of Thought: From Hellenism to Celan by George Steiner. New Directions, 2012. 224 pages, $25. In an often-cited passage of Molière’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Monsieur Jourdain explains to the Maître de Philosophie that he wants to write a love note to...
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.