Niebuhr on the Crisis of Our Civilization

Niebuhr on the Crisis of Our Civilization

by | Nov 15, 2020

By Francis P. Sempa Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) was both a theologian (teaching at Union Theological Seminary for over thirty years) and a public intellectual. The American diplomat and realist historian George F. Kennan called Niebuhr “the father of us all,” meaning...
The President’s Hidden Hand

The President’s Hidden Hand

by | Nov 1, 2020

Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins by Annie Jacobsen. Back Bay Books, 2019. Paperback, 560 pages, $19. Reviewed by Michael J. Ard Is lethal covert action compatible with American democracy?...
A Life in Liberal Internationalism

A Life in Liberal Internationalism

by | Jun 30, 2019

Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century by George Packer. Knopf, 2019. Hardcover, 608 pages, $30. Reviewed by Francis P. Sempa Richard Holbrooke’s life and career as a member of the American foreign policy establishment symbolized the decline...
A Prophet of Conservative Realism

A Prophet of Conservative Realism

by | Jun 2, 2019

Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution By Tucker Carlson. Free Press, 2018. Hardcover, 256 pages, $28. Reviewed by Sumantra Maitra Boris Johnson, before he turned to a goofy Mayor of London and subsequently the...
That Old-Time Civil Religion

That Old-Time Civil Religion

by | Mar 31, 2019

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...