Far from Respectable: Dave Hickey and His Art by Daniel Oppenheimer. University of Texas Press, 2021 Hardcover, 152 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by Scott Beauchamp “The pagan set out, with admirable sense, to enjoy himself. By the end of his civilization he had discovered...
Political Theology of International Order by William Bain. Oxford University Press, 2020. Hardcover, 272 pages, $85. Reviewed by John Ehrett Few academic fields today feel more unabashedly secular than international relations. Traditionally, the major division in the...
By Robert James Stove What makes organists tick? Denis Arnold (1926–1986), British biographer of Bach and Monteverdi, thought that he knew. In 1983 he remarked: “Organists have to be neat men: their mistakes do not, like a doctor’s, quietly die, but are all too...
America Transformed: The Rise and Legacy of American Progressivism by Ronald J. Pestritto. Encounter Books, 2021. Hardcover, 288 pages, $29. Reviewed by John C. Chalberg If Ronald Pestritto is right, then Barack Obama was wrong. Recall candidate Obama’s now famous (or...
Thirst: A Novel by A. G. Mojtabai. Slant, 2021. Hardcover, 141 pages, $25. Reviewed by Jeffrey Wald The reality of death, and what happens thereafter, has long captured the human imagination. One thinks of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, or Homer’s descriptions of...
The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan translated by Yuri Machkasov Amazon Crossing, 2017. Paperback, 732 pages, $15.95. Reviewed by Eve Tushnet “… The House demands a reverent attitude. A sense of mystery. Respect and awe. It can accept you or not, shower you with gifts...
By Trevor Cribben Merrill To say that Eric Rohmer is the most literary of directors verges on a commonplace. But that doesn’t make the observation any less true. His romantic comedies tend to feature members of the French upper bourgeoisie having deep conversations...
By David G. Bonagura, Jr. “I think the greatest lesson that The Conservative Mind taught me was that conservatism, in its essence, is very different from other ‘isms’ (liberalism, communism, socialism, etc.) in that it is not an ideology. Rather, it is a way of...
By Patrick Callahan Today the Piazza d’Aracoeli is a small row of umbrella pines and a bus station tucked below the Victor Emmanuel II Monument. Compared to the imposing white façade of this tomb of the unknown soldier, there is little to capture the imagination of...
by Jordan M. Poss According to Ian Fleming, writing in 1963, “the craft of writing sophisticated thrillers is almost dead.” This provocation, the opening line of his essay, “How to Write a Thriller,” may be evergreen. It was difficult then and is difficult now to find...
Localism, American-style
“Chuck” Chalberg on "Localism: Coming Home to Catholic Social Teaching," edited by Dale Ahlquist and Michael Warren Davis.
@SophiaPress
