Between Rome and ‘Jerusalem and Athens’
Leo Strauss and His Catholic Readers edited by Geoffrey M. Vaughan. The Catholic University of America Press, 2018. Hardcover, 360 pages, $75. Reviewed by Richard M. Reinsch II Leo Strauss greatly revived the study of political philosophy in the twentieth century and...
Moral Reasoning in an Acceptable Time
The Kairos Novels: the Wrinkle in Time and Polly O’Keefe Quartets by Madeleine L’Engle, edited by Leonard S. Marcus. Library of America, 2018. Hardcover, 1917 pages, $80. Reviewed by Matt Miller Fantastic literature has always been beloved of those who feel themselves...
The Importance of Being Iris
Why Iris Murdoch Matters By Gary Browning. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. Paperback, 272 pages, $27. Reviewed by Emina Melonic Philosophy and literature are often not very good bedfellows. For the most part, the novelist, or any artist, does not care about philosophy. It...
That Old-Time Civil Religion
The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy: How America’s Civil Religion Betrayed the National Interest by Walter A. McDougall. Yale University Press, 2016. Hardcover, 424 pages, $30. Reviewed by Richard M. Gamble Walter McDougall begins his sober analysis of civil religion...
Sufism as Civil Religion?
Caliphate Redefined: The Mystical Turn in Ottoman Political Thought by Hüseyin Yilmaz. Princeton University Press, 2018. Hardcover, 384 pages, $40. Reviewed by Fitzroy Morrissey In his very useful pocket-guide The Caliphate: A Pelican Introduction (2016), the...
There are metaphorical hills on which I would be willing to die. The Oxford comma is one of them.
So easy to forget that the best way to educate yourself is to read great works of literature and philosophy, then talk about them. Bring back the salon!