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History

A collection of 253 issues

Four reasons why the Right shouldn't be too distraught by the Capitol building violence

If you're like me, you're still embarrassed by the violent eruption at the Capitol building last week. I know, Trump didn't directly provoke it, but those close to him did, and Trump indirectly did. As I mentioned yesterday, no one who wants to remain

GKC on Waugh

Evelyn Waugh liked to send out satirical Christmas cards, and the apex (or nadir] of this practice was reached during the Christmas season of 1929. Waugh's card that year consisted of extracts reprinted from unfavorable reviews of his first novel, Decline and Fall. The harshest passage of all

Let's Celebrate St. Albert

(Although, to be honest, I can't hear the name "Albert" without thinking about "Fat Albert.") November 15th: Feast Day of St. Albert. I've often wondered whether St. Albert was sad when his greatest student, St. Thomas Aquinas, died before him. Together, I

The Downfall of Cecil Rhodes (11/26/2020)

Stefan Kanfer, in his book on the De Beers diamond cartel, gives Chesterton the last word on Cecil Rhodes, who instead of promoting Western values "illustrated almost every quality essential to the Sultan, from the love of diamonds to the scorn of women." The irony was, as Kanfer

New Mother Cabrini Statue Next on the Hit List

Plus More HSP, Gardening Corner, and Louis Prima I'm impressed: New York City erected a statue of Mother Cabrini yesterday in Battery Park. I hope they put it behind a huge fence and appoint an armed guard to protect it. I mean, it's such a testament

The Symbolic Importance of the Battle of Marchfield Plain

Only coincidentally, but highly significantly on the symbolic level, the Minotaur started to grow quickly right after Thomas Aquinas died in 1274. In 1278, Rudolph von Hapsburg defeated Otakar, the King of Bohemia, at the Battle of the Marchfield Plain, thereby ushering in the greatest European dynasty of all time,

Tuesday

Flogging the Middle Ages Chesterton pointed out that every stick is good enough to beat the Catholic Church with. The same could be said about the Middle Ages (for related reasons, btw): every stick is good enough to beat it with. I have a business acquaintance who repeatedly harumps "

The Barbarians I

Ruminations on the Fall of Rome Mike Duncan, of The History of Rome podcast, on the coming war between Theodosius and Maximus (in the late 380s). Here's Duncan's description of Theodosius' army: “Theodosus' top field generals, Ricimer and Ricimer's nephew, Arbogast, were

Thursday

Kontent from the Kindle As March Madness heats up, it's interesting to remember what group of people used to dominate the sport. From A Renegade History of the United States (perhaps the best book of American history written in the past 15 years): "The first professional basketball

Thursday

Ruminations on the Fall of Rome Belloc wrote, “The Catholic Church was the only subsidiary organism that had risen within the general body of the Roman Empire.” Belloc's idea that the Catholic Church was an organism that grew out of the organism of the Empire is important. Combine