What We’re Reading
Luke C. Sheahan, Editor Ah, summer. The sun is for shining as books are for reading. The new imprint Creed & Culture yields two of my summer titles: Patrick Deneen’s American Odyssey: What an Ancient Story Reveals about Our Divided Souls and Michael Lucchese’s...
Gordon Wood and the Verisimilitudes of Consensus History
The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 By Gordon S. Wood. UNC Press, 1969/1998. Paperback, 680 pages, $45.95. The Rising Glory of America, 1760-1820 Edited by Gordon S. Wood. Northeastern University Press, 1971/1990. Hardcover, 352 pages, $44.42. The...
Forming the American Imagination
The American Book of Fables By Matthew Mehan. Sophia Institute Press, 2026. Hardcover, 396 pages, $39.95. Reviewed by Shaun Rieley. “If a man were permitted to make all the ballads,” wrote eighteenth-century Scottish political theorist Andrew Fletcher, “he need not...
A Man for All Seasons
Dispatches from the Late Republic: The Culture, Politics, and Prophets of American Greatness, Decline, and Rebirth By Michael Anton. Encounter Books, 2026. Hardcover, 408 pages, $34.99. Reviewed by Bradley C. S. Watson. Michael Anton burst onto the national political...
Finding Faith in Fiction
Wondrous Reading: Encountering the Catholic Faith in Children’s Literature By LuElla D’Amico. Cascade Books, 2025. Paperback, 162 pages, $23. Reviewed by Christine Norvell. A Presbyterian minister told me that many of the young parents in her inner city church...
The Liturgical Key to Tolkien
The High Hallow: Tolkien’s Liturgical Imagination By Ben Reinhard. Emmaus Road Publishing, 2025. Hardcover, 184 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by Benjamin J. Volpe. “My living room bookcase has an entire shelf filled with Tolkien’s works and works commenting on Tolkien’s...
To Find Eyes to See
More Than a Matter of Taste: The Moral Imagination and the Spirit of Literature By Joshua Hren. Word on Fire Luminor, 2026. Paperback, 392 pages, $29.95. Reviewed by Nadya Williams. The year after Euripides died (406 BC), Athenian theater-goers who flocked to see...
Rural America as It Really Is
Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America By Joanna Dee Das. University of Chicago Press, 2025. Hardcover, 272 pages, $27.50. Reviewed by Jason C. Phillips. Over the last eighteen months, I have twice visited Branson, Missouri. Over the...
The Poet Watches Birds
Instructions for Waking By Jennifer A. Hartenburg. Kelsay Books, 2026. Paperback, 70 pages, $20. Reviewed by Matt Miller. I’m not much of a birdwatcher. We keep a few feeders, and I’m always pleased to spot a bald eagle, a pileated woodpecker, or a Baltimore oriole....
"If classical teachers believe that truth, beauty, and goodness can indeed change the world, then the sort of student (and teacher and school) described by Esolen is a net gain for this world. And his Classical Catechism serves as a helpful tool in building the necessary common