A Dreadful Joy Is Conjured

A Dreadful Joy Is Conjured

The Princess of All Lands by Russell Kirk. Arkham House, 1979. Hardcover, 238 pages. (Stories reprinted in Ancestral Shadows, ISI, 2004). Reviewed by Stephen Schmalhofer One unexpected benefit of moving from New York City to Connecticut is the recovery of October from...
The Life Behind the Dance

The Life Behind the Dance

Anthony Powell: Dancing to the Music of Time by Hilary Spurling. Hamish Hamilton, 2017 (Knopf 2018). Hardcover, 509 pages, $29.70. Reviewed by James Baresel Over four decades ago the novelist Anthony Powell asked his friend Hilary Spurling if she was willing to be his...
A Woman Who Reads

A Woman Who Reads

Book Girl: A Journey through the Treasures and Transforming Power of a Reading Life By Sarah Clarkson. Tyndale Momentum, 2018. Paperback, 288 pages, $16. Reviewed by Ashlee Cowles What does it mean to be a woman who reads? This is the primary question Sarah Clarkson...
On Dragon Hunting

On Dragon Hunting

James V. Schall, S. J.   Heywood Broun’s very short story, The Fifty-First Dragon, was published in 1921 by Harcourt Brace. It concerns a medieval school for the formation of knights. Matriculating in this school is an apparently inept candidate by the ironic name of...
He Knew the Reason We Fight

He Knew the Reason We Fight

Evolution of Desire: A Life of René Girard by Cynthia L. Haven. Michigan State University Press, 2018. Paperback, 346 pages, $30. Reviewed by Patrick Kurp In their 1941 short feature In the Sweet Pie and Pie, Larry, Curly, and Moe are ex-cons hoping to marry three...