The Roots of Recession
As an energy shock looms, a new book reframes recession as the product of historical circumstance, not cyclical inevitability.
Joel Kotkin
· 11 min read
Books
A collection of 229 posts
Statecraft and Seduction
In an excellent new biography of Rasputin, British military historian Antony Beevor argues that perception can be a more powerful shaper of world events than reality.
Ron Capshaw
· 9 min read
Infinite Ingenuity: Andy Weir’s Optimistic Vision in ‘Project Hail Mary’
The new film 'Project Hail Mary' based on Andy Weir's bestselling novel, celebrates scientific problem-solving on a cosmic scale. There are striking parallels with David Deutsch's radical optimism.
Iona Italia
· 14 min read
Apocalypse ’92
A new account of the 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge attempts to straighten out the record and place the story in a broader political and theological context.
Ron Capshaw
· 9 min read
The Many Faces of Tucker Carlson
Jason Zengerle’s new book about the degradation of a once-gifted writer and broadcaster also illustrates the downward trajectory of the entire news industry during the same period.
Graham Daseler
· 14 min read
Hearts of Darkness
Laura K. Field’s smart new book takes a critical look at MAGA’s Ivy League intellectuals.
George Case
· 8 min read
Murder Most Foul
William J. Mann’s new book about the notorious Black Dahlia case is a valuable corrective to the cottage industry of speculative theories that proliferated after her murder in 1947.
Ron Capshaw
· 10 min read
Heir Jordan
Aaron Magid has written a timely biography of a consequential monarch.
Michael M. Rosen
· 8 min read
God of the Yawning Gaps
It’s hard to believe in God when even very bright, thoughtful people can’t come up with good reasons why you should.
Graham Daseler
· 13 min read
A Hardy Myth
A reply to Bruce Gilley.
Oliver Kamm
· 7 min read
The Women of January 6th
A new book details the conspiratorial thinking and dark histories of two Capitol rioters.
Claire Lehmann
· 7 min read
Stormclouds Over the Capitol
Mary Clare Jalonick’s oral history of the 6 January riot is an important corrective to the second Trump administration’s vandalism of the historical record.
Ron Capshaw
· 7 min read
Precipice of Collapse
Two new books about America’s justice system paint a bleak picture of a deeply divided country.
Ron Capshaw
· 8 min read
All the Nuzzi That’s Fit to Print
Love means never having to say you’re sorry.
Valerie Pavilonis
· 10 min read
The Conned Artist
David Mamet’s new polemic is filled with muddled prose and muddled thought.
Graham Daseler
· 11 min read