“One of the great problems with developed sensibilities in any area is the temptation to preciosity. Overrefinement in art, music, language, or any area does not create the true artiste but rather the insufferable boor. The task is not to cultivate high standards; any lout can do that. The trick is to cultivate high standards …
Hypocrisy on Stilts and Steroids
So then, Fidel Castro, fixture of my Cold War childhood, has now gone where Manhattan elites can do nothing whatever for his reputation. St. Peter does not take the Times. At least not anymore. Viewed from any conceivable angle, that man was a murderous thug and a one-man poverty-dispensing F5 tornado. And the reality that …
Review: Self-Publishing Success: A Handbook for New Writers
Self-Publishing Success: A Handbook for New Writers by Mary Rosenblum My rating: 4 of 5 stars As I said in Wordsmithy, I like reading books on wordsmithery, and this was yet another one. A lot of good sturdy advice here about writing generally, but also a good bit of advice for those looking at the …
Review: Christ and the Caesars: Historical Sketches
Christ and the Caesars: Historical Sketches by Ethelbert Stauffer My rating: 4 of 5 stars Greatly enjoyed this. It is a history of the relationship of Rome and the early Church over the course of the first three centuries. Much of it is taken up with the politics of numismatic interpretation, and it is quite …
Review: Thinking, Fast and Slow
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman My rating: 4 of 5 stars All of it well-written, although much of it was not in my areas of great interest. Still, there were some fascinating stretches. View all my reviews
Not How the Game Is Played
I would like to propose a toast to the Electoral College, one of the very best things the Founders put in the Constitution. Not only so, but in order to amend the Constitution, it would require the consent of all the states that would be promptly disenfranchised by the move. What this means is that …
Asking the Important Questions
Review: The End of Protestantism: Pursuing Unity in a Fragmented Church
The End of Protestantism: Pursuing Unity in a Fragmented Church by Peter J. Leithart My rating: 3 of 5 stars The three stars is an average. There were sections of the book that were much higher, and others that were confusedly lower. My main complaint is that the book doesn’t live up to its name. …
Babylon and the Bolshevik Buttercups
People divide up in two different ways. One way is when they differ on the substance of the debate—shall we go to war or shall we not? Shall we raise the minimum wage or shall we not? Shall we pursue an aggressive campaign against climate change or shall we not? Shall we appropriate big-time federal …
Totalitolerance and the Tactics of Trigglypuff
Introduction: If you assume that secular society is an actual possibility, which is a big suppose, one of the first things you have to do is ignore the outliers. In other words, diversity is great, and will continue to be great, just so long as nobody leans too far to the right or left in …