Beginning in Gladness, Ending in Madness
1900–1950 was a golden age of literary eccentricity.
Stephen Akey
· 14 min read
Art and Culture
A collection of 758 posts
Motorpsycho Nightmare
Robert Pirsig’s insufferable cult novel about philosophy and bike maintenance turns 50.
Kevin Mims
· 18 min read
In the Country of Last Things
A look back at the work and impressively productive life of Brooklyn’s most famous resident, Paul Auster.
David Cohen
· 14 min read
The Best Picture Nominees, 2024
A look at the ten nominees for this year’s Best Picture Oscar.
Allan Stratton
· 17 min read
Beware the Little Lambs
Nietzsche warned us about the dangers of defining our values in opposition to something else.
Ben Turtel
· 7 min read
The Road Out of Nowhere
A new book celebrates Springsteen’s stark 1982 classic, ‘Nebraska.’
Matt Hanson
· 6 min read
To Winter, With Love
The cold allows me to feel alive.
Marilyn Simon
· 7 min read
The Odyssey of Classical Education
Classical education instills precisely the skills and habits most sorely needed in society today.
Robert C. Thornett
· 8 min read
Here Comes the Bite
Peter Benchley’s ‘Jaws’ turns 50.
Kevin Mims
· 24 min read
Make Way for the Jesuits
In the seventeenth instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ Greg Koabel describes how The Society of Jesus became a powerful player in the colonization of North America.
Greg Koabel
· 25 min read
Bestseller Reparations
In ‘American Fiction,’ director Cord Jefferson brings a devil-may-care effrontery to bear on the culture of self-censorship, progressive pieties, and artistic hypocrisy.
Thomas Larson
· 7 min read
A Gathering of the Huns
In the seventh instalment of ‘The So-Called Dark Ages,’ Herbert Bushman describes how disparate Hunnic tribes coalesced into the unified force that would terrorize Europe.
Herbert Bushman
· 16 min read
Master of Reality
“Things were bleak, they really were. Yet nobody was singing about that side of life, which is why we thought we should.”
George Case
· 8 min read
Leonard Bernstein Deserved Better Than ‘Maestro’
Netflix somehow managed to turn the most talented, beloved, and complex American musician in history into a two-dimensional domestic villain.
Daniel Lelchuk
· 9 min read
Huck Finn or Uncle Tom?
These great books should be read together, for each illuminates a different part of the American character.
Tim DeRoche
· 8 min read