Mark Twain Revisited

Mark Twain Revisited

Mark Twain  By Ron Chernow. Penguin Press, 2025.  Hardcover, 1,200 pages, $45. Reviewed by Chuck Chalberg. Let us stipulate at the outset that Ron Chernow has indeed covered the Twain waterfront in this massive volume. How could he not? Twain appears “Afloat” in Part...
Political Economy Before Adam Smith

Political Economy Before Adam Smith

Early English Tracts on Commerce Edited by John Ramsay McCulloch. CL Press, 2024.  Paperback, 693 pages, $19.50. Reviewed by Gregory M. Collins. John Ramsay McCulloch (1789-1864) doesn’t roll off the zealous tongues of free marketeers as smoothly as Adam Smith, but he...
Science and Meaning: Parallel Tracks?

Science and Meaning: Parallel Tracks?

Purpose: What Evolution and Human Nature Imply About the Meaning of Our Existence By Samuel T. Wilkinson. Pegasus Books, 2024. Hardcover, 352 pages, $29.95.  Reviewed by Gene Callahan. Samuel T. Wilkinson, a professor of psychiatry at Yale University, has written a...
Geopolitics and the Making of the Modern World

Geopolitics and the Making of the Modern World

The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars and the Making of the Modern World By Hal Brands. W.W. Norton, 2025. Hardcover, 320 pages, $29.99. Reviewed by John P. Rossi. Hal Brands, author of a handful of books on foreign policy and a professor at Johns Hopkins (as well...
Between Greatness and Hubris 

Between Greatness and Hubris 

Gems of American History: The Lecturer’s Art By Walter A. McDougall. Encounter Books, 2025. Hardcover, 336 pages, $32.99. Reviewed by Nicholas Callaghan. As we rapidly approach the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence, a question remains at the fore...