Defending Against the Old Chaos

Defending Against the Old Chaos

The Grand Strategy of the Habsburg Empire by A. Wess Mitchell. Princeton University Press, 2018. Hardcover, 416 pages, $35. Reviewed by Francis P. Sempa Between 1700 and 1866, the Austrian Habsburgs skillfully navigated the great power politics of Europe, withstanding...
Making Silly People Uncomfortable

Making Silly People Uncomfortable

A conversation with acclaimed philosopher John Gray. JP O’Malley John Gray is an English political philosopher whose major books include Straw Dogs, Black Mass, and The Silence of Animals. Gray’s latest book is called Seven Types of Atheism. Where did the title of...
The Two Minds that Made Europe

The Two Minds that Made Europe

Fatal Discord: Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind by Michael Massing. HarperCollins, 2018. Hardcover, 987 pages, $45. Daniel James Sundahl Michael Massing’s thesis in this massive undertaking, Fatal Discord, argues that the rift between Erasmus and...
The Cycles of Networked History?

The Cycles of Networked History?

The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook by Niall Ferguson. Penguin Press, 2018. Hardcover, 592 pages, $30. Matthew M. Robare Niall Ferguson’s The Square and the Tower is a short, sometimes too short, book that provides an...

The Meiji Restoration at 150

A critical gaze falls on Meiji sloganeering. JASON MORGAN In 1853, American ships under the command of U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry appeared in Uraga Bay off the coast of Japan. Their purpose was to deliver to the Japanese authorities a list of demands, couched...