The Electoral Triumph of the New Deal
Roosevelt Sweeps Nation: FDR’s 1936 Landslide and the Triumph of the Liberal Ideal By David Pietrusza. Diversion Books, 2022. Hardcover, 544 pages, $34.99. Reviewed by John Hendrickson. David Pietrusza is both a gifted historian and storyteller. He is also the “Dean”...
Ever Ancient, Ever New
The New Apologetics: Defending the Faith in a Post-Christian Era Edited by Matthew Nelson. Word on Fire Institute, 2022. Paperback, 288 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by Scott D. Moringiello. I regularly teach “Introduction to Catholicism” at DePaul University. Of the 40...
Why America’s Foreign Policy Needs John Quincy Adams
America’s Rise and Fall among Nations: Lessons in Statecraft from John Quincy Adams By Angelo M. Codevilla. Encounter Books, 2022. Hardcover, $30.99, 288 pages. Reviewed by John C. Chalberg. Angelo Codevilla is no longer with us, but his erudite wisdom and earthy wit...
The Celebrity-Industrial Complex
Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits are Hurting the Church By Katelyn Beaty. Brazos Press, 2022. Hardcover, 208 pages, $24.99. Reviewed by James E. Hartley. “The celebrity,” opined Daniel Boorstein, “is a person who is known for his...
The Death and Life of Jane Jacobs’s Hometown
Jane Jacobs’s First City: Learning from Scranton, Pennsylvania By Glenna Lang. New Village Press, 2021. Hardcover, 468 Pages, $39.95. Reviewed by Josh Bowman. Places, for better or worse, are a part of who we are and who we become. Along with our faith and families of...
The Destruction of American Social Cohesion
The Plot to Change America: How Identity Politics is Dividing the Land of the Free By Mike Gonzalez. Encounter Books, 2020. Hardcover, 224 pages, $28.99. Reviewed by Jeffrey Folks. The Plot to Change America: How Identity Politics is Dividing the Land of the Free is...
Ted McAllister’s Place: A Memorial Tribute
By Bruce P. Frohnen. Ted V. McAllister died on January 27 after a long, hard-fought battle with cancer. A native Oklahoman, he spent most of his career living in Moorpark (culturally quite distant from Los Angeles) while teaching at the Pepperdine University School of...
Losing Homer
Homer: The Very Idea By James I. Porter. University of Chicago Press, 2021. Hardcover, 280 pages, $27.50. Reviewed by Jesse Russell. In 2011 Harvard Professor of English and noted historicist critic Stephen Greenblatt published The Swerve. In this fascinating, if...
The Story Behind “Hitler’s Greatest Strategic Error”
Hitler’s American Gamble: Pearl Harbor and Germany’s March to Global War By Brendan Simms and Charlie Laderman. Basic Books, 2021. Hardcover, 528 pages, $35. Reviewed by John Rossi. Among the many questions concerning World War II that have fascinated and...
.@JM_Butcher himself admits that there are in fact important divisions within American society, but he believes that “Americans are united on some very important questions that are driving debates in statehouses, schoolhouses, and even your house.” In this, as in nearly all that
Despite [Kirk's] and others’ efforts to prevent further decline in transcendent beliefs, more than a century later, it is clear that those Americans who adhere to them represent a small and frequently marginalized minority. @fhmcclatchey must be counted among their number, for he