Is Western Civilization Uniquely Bad?
If we are looking for a civilization that never engaged in mass violence or destruction, we’re unlikely to find one.
James Kierstead
· 8 min read
Literature
A collection of 66 posts
Enlightenment Wars: Some Reflections on 'Enlightenment Now,' One Year Later
As Thomas Paine wrote, “To argue with someone who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.”
Steven Pinker
· 52 min read
Correcting ‘Youth’s Eternal Temptation to Arrogance’—One Bedtime Story at a Time
Children get a wider perspective when they’re tugged out of the here and now for a little while each day. In an enchanted hour, we can read them stories of the real and imagined past.
Meghan Cox Gurdon
· 9 min read
Is Western Civilization a Thing?
Appiah is wrong to pretend that distinct civilizations were never a thing.
James Kierstead
· 9 min read
The Posthumous #MeToo-ing of J. D. Salinger
Salinger has been posthumously relegated to the limbo of #MeToo-tainted, “problematic” cultural figures, which probably accounts for the awkward half-silence around his centenary.
Cathy Young
· 12 min read
The Novel Isn't Dead — Please Stop Writing Eulogies
I refuse to be discouraged by the sort of novel-gone-to-the-dogs pessimism that has been around for generations.
Gabriel Scorgie
· 9 min read