Cultural Revolution in the Renaissance?
The problem with this picture of the Renaissance is not that it has no truth to it—it certainly has some—but that it is perversely unbalanced.
James Hankins
· 8 min read
History
A collection of 359 posts
Humanity's Great Urban Adventure Didn't Begin With Greece and Rome
Even in the darkest period of economic and political collapse, the chain of urban societies that stretched across the Old World was never broken.
Greg Woolf
· 8 min read
Of Heroic Deeds and Hysterical Masses
Much of today’s madness results from the failure to impart that lesson, a failure in which those ostensible repositories of enlightenment (the nation’s institutions of higher learning), obstinately committed to inflaming self-pity and self-importance, are indisputably and indefensibly complicit.
David A. Eisenberg
· 8 min read
As Statues Fall, What's the Best Way to Evaluate History's Heroes?
One possibility is that morality is dependent on local circumstances and facts about social order and organization.
Steven D. Hales
· 7 min read
The Hagia Sophia Should Remain a Beacon to All
The Hagia Sophia was the brainchild of a unique figure in history.
Lars Brownworth
· 9 min read
The Passing of the Second Imperial Age
The US’s hegemonic period, now shrinking, often looked like empire, especially the British version, which it mostly replaced.
John Lloyd
· 13 min read
Thoughts on Longevity
Contemplation of such great age is intrinsically moving, perhaps because it releases us from the oppressive clamour of the moment.
Simon Evans
· 8 min read
Neo-Totalitarianism and the Erasure of History
And this neo-totalitarianism has learned from the past: It has its inquisitions, its auto-da-fes, its purges and cultural revolutions, reeducation and self-criticism sessions, and above all the ostracization and ultimate erasure of dissidents.
Benjamin Kerstein
· 5 min read
The Father of Capitalism and the Abolition of Slavery
So in the end, slavery, the slave trade and imperialism were not only morally disgusting but also of dubious economic value.
Matthew Lesh
· 8 min read
Goodbye to Hong Kong?
For classical liberals, Hong Kong had been a beacon of hope for half a century.
Marian L. Tupy
· 6 min read
Captain Cook and the Colonial Paradox
Cook is best understood as a quintessential figure of the European Enlightenment, with all the consequences flowing from that, positive and negative.
Adam Wakeling
· 22 min read
Dumbing Fascism Down, Then And Now
Stalin publicly misused the term so often, in fact, that Princeton history professor Stephen Kotkin has suggested he lacked a fundamental understanding of the word’s meaning.
Bradford H.B.
· 8 min read
Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization—A Review
Gregg finishes the book by concluding that the success of Western civilisation rests on the “four theses” of creation, freedom, justice, and faith.
Adam Wakeling
· 13 min read
The War of Return—A Review
The War of Return is an important book and, unquestionably, a welcome corrective to the plethora of myths, lies, and misconceptions that litter the discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Benjamin Kerstein
· 19 min read
Lessons in Death and Life from the Diaries of Samuel Pepys
In Pepys’s time a scarlet cross on the door denoted an infected household and sentinels stood guard outside to keep people inside.
Colin Fleming
· 8 min read