The Patterns of Living

The Patterns of Living

Cities Alive: Jane Jacobs, Christopher Alexander, and the Roots of the New Urban Renaissance by Michael W. Mehaffy. Sustasis Press, 2017. Paperback, $20. Reviewed by Gene Callahan I first encountered the work of the great urban theorist Jane Jacobs due to the...
Practice Makes Virtue

Practice Makes Virtue

How to Be Unlucky: Reflections on the Pursuit of Virtue by Joshua Gibbs. CiRCE Institute, 2018. Paperback, 239 pages. $16. Reviewed by Elizabeth Bittner If we were to judge a book by its cover, we would likely steer clear of Joshua Gibbs’s latest work. Titled How to...
Bair, Beauvoir, and the Becketeers

Bair, Beauvoir, and the Becketeers

Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me: A Memoir by Deidre Bair. Nan A. Talese, 2019. Hardcover, 368 pages, $29.95. Reviewed by Michial Farmer When she set out to write her award-winning biography of Samuel Beckett, Deirdre Bair had never even read...
What Does Athens Have to Do with America?

What Does Athens Have to Do with America?

Ancient Greece and American Conservatism: Classical Influence on the Modern Right By John Bloxham. I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. Hardcover, 284 pages, $99 (Paperback, $40). Reviewed by Grant Havers The application of ancient Greek thought and history to...
Getting Out of the Hole

Getting Out of the Hole

On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts by James K. A. Smith. Brazos Press, 2019. Hardcover, 256 pages, $25. Reviewed by James Davenport There is an old parable I have often been told. It goes something like this: A man is...