Rethinking Hollywood History

Rethinking Hollywood History

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Annapurna Pictures, 2018. Reviewed by Titus Techera The most interesting thing on Netflix now is the new Coen Brothers movie, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a Western in six episodes, starting with...
At the Suffrage of the State

At the Suffrage of the State

Liberal Suppression: 501(c)(3) and the Taxation of Speech by Philip Hamburger. University of Chicago, 2018. Hardcover, 432 pages, $55. Reviewed by Bruce Frohnen Why read legal history, especially if you are not a lawyer? The field is dominated by specialists and...
Portrait of a Genius

Portrait of a Genius

Portraits of Wittgenstein, Abridged edition Edited by F. A. Flowers III and Ian Ground. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. Paperback, 512 pages, $48. Reviewed by Frank Freeman The most infamous “episode” in the life of Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)...
After the Guns Fall Silent

After the Guns Fall Silent

War and Remembrance: The Story of the American Battle Monuments Commission by Thomas H. Conner. University Press of Kentucky, 2018. Hardcover, 376 pages, $50. Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl An obscure poem reads like this: “That bullet forever depriving him of...
A Plodding Penn

A Plodding Penn

William Penn: A Life Andrew R. Murphy Oxford University Press, 2018. Hardcover, 488 pages, $35. Reviewed by Carl Rollyson By the time William Penn (1644–1718) received his charter in 1681 from King Charles II for a new American colony he was already behind the times....
An Inherently Meaningful Cosmos

An Inherently Meaningful Cosmos

The Inklings and King Arthur: J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, C. S. Lewis, & Owen Barfield on the Matter of Britain. Edited by Sørina Higgins. Apocryphile Press, 2017. Paperback, 566 pages, $50. Reviewed by Ben Lockerd If a new scholarly...