James Burnham and the Asia-Pacific: 1941–1978
By Francis P. Sempa James Burnham (1905–1987) was an American political philosopher and public intellectual who traveled the intellectual journey from Marxism (the Trotskyite version) to conservatism. When he broke with Marxism in the late 1930s, he began writing for...
The Sources of Russian Aggression
Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest by Angela Stent. Twelve, 2019. Hardcover, 448 pages, $30. Russia’s Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy by Anders Åslund. Yale University Press, 2019. Hardcover, 320 pages, $35. Reviewed...
From Caliphate to Nation States
Sunnis and Shi’a: A Political History by Laurence Louër. Princeton University Press, 2020. Hardcover, 240 pages, $29.95. Reviewed by Garrett Robinson With the death of Hussein ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad and the third imam, at the Battle of Karbala in 680, the unity...
Genuine Realism in a Multipolar World
A Common Human Ground: Universality and Particularity in a Multicultural World by Claes G. Ryn. University of Missouri Press, 2019. Paperback, 178 pages, $21.95. Reviewed by Eric Adler With the problems facing international relations today, political leaders and...
There are metaphorical hills on which I would be willing to die. The Oxford comma is one of them.
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!