Politics and Poetics: Educating Wise Statesmen
The Soul of Statesmanship: Shakespeare on Nature, Virtue, and Political Wisdom Edited by Khalil M. Habib and L. Joseph Hebert Jr. Lexington Books, 2018. Hardcover, 224 pages, $95. Reviewed by Christopher Fisher The statesman is a rare beast. Who among them come...
No Mere Textbook
Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story by Wilfred M. McClay. Encounter Books, 2019. Hardcover, 504 pages, $35. Reviewed by Bruce P. Frohnen In this fine book, Wilfred McClay makes an important contribution to American education and culture. Every year...
Reagan’s Consistent Cheerful Convictions
The Literary Reagan: Authentic Quotations from His Life By Nicholas Dujmovic. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019. Hardcover, 346 pages, $88. Reviewed by William F. Meehan III Nicholas Dujmovic’s rationale for compiling and editing The Literary Reagan is clear: the...
Attacking the Idols of the Elites
The Kingdom of Speech by Tom Wolfe. Little, Brown, 2016. Hardcover, 192 pages, $26. Reviewed by Titus Techera Tom Wolfe was the last of the all-American writers. He made a career of chasing interesting stories on American freedom for half a century. No one else has...
Writer as Goad
Ben Hecht: Fighting Words, Moving Pictures by Adina Hoffman. Yale University Press, 2019 Hardcover, 264 pages, $26. Reviewed by Carl Rollyson Ben Hecht is one of those American writers who seems to have had a hand in everything. He was a Chicago newspaperman who also...
Kirk saw poetry, fiction, tradition, and restraint as essential to understanding America and preserving its character. In his review of "On America," @cjscalia explores Kirk’s vision of the founding, statesmanship, literature, and the enduring ideas that have shaped the republic.