Failures of Interpretation

Failures of Interpretation

What Was Literary Impressionism? by Michael Fried. Harvard University Press, 2018. Hardcover, 408 pages, $46.50. Reviewed by Gregory Castle Impressionism arose in late-nineteenth century European and American literary art in response to a crisis in interpretation, a...
Rethinking Association

Rethinking Association

Why Associations Matter: The Case for First Amendment Pluralism by Luke C. Sheahan. University Press of Kansas, 2020. Hardcover, 227 pages, $35. Reviewed by Bruce P. Frohnen On one level Luke Sheahan’s excellent book is a practical, lawyerly brief aiming to correct a...
A Mind-Body Problem in Chinese Philosophy?

A Mind-Body Problem in Chinese Philosophy?

Mind and Body in Early China: Beyond Orientalism and the Myth of Holism by Edward Slingerland. Oxford University Press, 2019. Cloth, xi + 385 pages, $35. Reviewed by Jason Morgan When Scottish missionary James Legge (1815–1897) translated, partly under the auspices of...
The Sources of Russian Aggression

The Sources of Russian Aggression

Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest by Angela Stent. Twelve, 2019. Hardcover, 448 pages, $30. Russia’s Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy by Anders Åslund. Yale University Press, 2019. Hardcover, 320 pages, $35. Reviewed...
Tories and True Believers

Tories and True Believers

Small Men on the Wrong Side of History: The Decline, Fall, and Unlikely Return of Conservatism By Ed West. London: Constable, 2020. Hardcover, 426 pages, $29. Reviewed by Derek Turner The story of conservatism since 1945 has been one of failure wrapped up in frequent...
A Paean to Craftsmanship

A Paean to Craftsmanship

Works and Days by Hesiod, translated by A. E. Stallings. Penguin Classics, 2018. Paperback, 112 pages, $8.45. Reviewed by J. L. Wall The new Penguin edition of Hesiod’s Works and Days includes a map. This is a curious decision. There are no journeys in the poem,...