Father Joseph Fessio, S.J.: California Blackrobe By Cornelius Michael Buckley. S.J. Ignatius Press, 2024. Hardcover, 379 pages, $27.95. Reviewed by Lee Oser. “Fessio.” The name has become a test. The first card the reviewer lays on the table will evoke a smile or a...
On Being Civilized: A Few Lines Amid the Breakage By Tracy Lee Simmons. Memoria College Press, 2023. Paperback, 281 pages, $15.45. Reviewed by Darrell Falconburg. “What is civilization?” When confronted with what appears to be civilizational disintegration, many...
Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel’s Messiah By Charles King. Doubleday, 2024. Hardcover, 352 pages, $32.00. Reviewed by Rev. Dr. Karl C. Schaffenburg. Joyeuses Fêtes! as a seasonal greeting is no more silly than “Happy Holidays!”,...
Airborne: A Sentimental Journey (1976) Atlantic High: A Celebration (1982) Racing Through Paradise: A Pacific Passage (1987) WindFall: The End of the Affair (1992) Reviewed by Bill Meehan. William F. Buckley Jr., a friend of Russell Kirk, circulated The University...
American Leviathan: The Birth of the Administrative State and Progressive Authoritarianism By Ned Ryun. Encounter Books, 2024. Paperback, 176 pages, $19.99. Reviewed by Jeffrey Folks. In American Leviathan, Ned Ryun offers a cogent overview of the origins,...
The Wizard of Mecosta: Russell Kirk, Gothic Fiction, and the Moral Imagination By Camilo Peralta. Vernon Press, 2024. Hardcover, 222 pages, $78.00. Reviewed by James E. Person Jr. The late Russell Kirk (1918-1994) was one of the wisest yet humblest of men one could...
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!