Thank Samuel Johnson for the Jane Austen Revival
Without his “Dictionary,” you probably wouldn't be able to make sense of “Sense and Sensibility”
Books
Six Maniacal Observations from G.K. Chesterton
They'll help make sure you don't think like a maniac
The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy: A Micro-Review
If I had to come up with a list of books whose title makes the book sound far drier than it is, I'd nominate Gilson's The Spirit of Mediaeval Philosophy. Merton fans may recall that he bought the book in his pre-Catholic days, then nearly hurled
50-Year Anniversary of The Gulag
Gary Saul Morson at The New Criterion
Cormac's Border Trilogy
Joel J. Miller at Miller's Book Review (Substack)
This Might Be the Best Book of the 21st Century
Look Homeward, America. Bill Kauffman. ISI Books, 2006.
Strong, deep, readable, desperate, fun. All those adjectives–even those that trip over one another–fit this book. It's such a good book, it made me want to quit writing. “If someone like Kauffman, with his erudition and talent, isn&
Read on the Run
For years, I've wanted to start the "On-the-Run Reader." It would be a Reader's Digest-type publication, but weightier and lighter. The subject matter would be more serious than RD, but the length of the "articles" (more like blurbs, quotes, summaries, and essays)
The Minotaur: Five Short Lessons About the Modern State
Revisiting de Jouvenel's 1945 classic, On Power
“the spirit of domination never slumbers”
Bertrand de Jouvenel was born in 1903 to an aristocratic family that embraced the “progressive” mores of the day. His parents divorced. His father married the famous novelist Colette in 1912. In 1920, de Jouvenel
Twenty 20th-Century Books for Young Autodidacts
(Actually, there are 33, if you count the honorable mentions)
Joseph Epstein is arguably the best essayist alive. He’s urbane, funny, self-deprecating. He’s a fine stylist, and he’s remarkably well-read.
I remember William F. Buckley marveling at Epstein’s erudition and wondering how Epstein could have so
The Fact Is, Saints Have Levitated
Daniel K. Williams at Mere Orthodoxy