I am here to give you back your future. Human flourishing in the coming post-liberal West. The hour is late, and Moloch is within the gates. Foundationalism. Reality-focused writings, often on history and politics.
Episodes
Friday Jan 24, 2020
Friday Jan 24, 2020
Straight history today, not politics, in the form of Christian (and Muslim) heroism at the final end of the Crusades. (The written version of this review, in web, PDF, and ebook formats, can be found here.)
Tuesday Jan 21, 2020
Tuesday Jan 21, 2020
Thoughts, from two years ago now, on Patrick Deneen's seminal work, the first major work of post-liberalism in the modern era. (The written version of this review was first published December 19, 2017. Written versions, in web and PDF formats, are available here.)
Saturday Jan 18, 2020
Saturday Jan 18, 2020
My review of @sapinker's "Enlightenment Now." A mixed bag, as usual with Pinker, lurching wildly from Very Good to Very Bad. (The written version of this review was first published February 16, 2018. Written versions, in web and PDF formats, are available here.)
Thursday Jan 16, 2020
Thursday Jan 16, 2020
Peerless NeverTrumper Jonah Goldberg instructs us how to view the world. (The written version of this review was first published May 2, 2018. Written versions, in web and PDF formats, are available here.)
Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
Of Men of Destiny, and of the protean Alcibiades, man of glory and contradiction, and of what his life says to us today. (The written version of this review, in web, PDF, and ebook formats, can be found here.)
Friday Jan 10, 2020
Friday Jan 10, 2020
I am skeptical of the art of predicting the future based on the past, but Peter Turchin offers a compelling theory in this 2016 book—including predicting that 2020 will be a very bad year. (The written version of this review, in web, PDF, and ebook formats, can be found here.)
Wednesday Jan 08, 2020
Wednesday Jan 08, 2020
Thoughts on a misleading and mendacious book that has been used to propagandize generations of schoolchildren. (The written version of this review, in web, PDF, and ebook formats, can be found here.)
Monday Jan 06, 2020
Monday Jan 06, 2020
This book explains a great deal this is otherwise opaque, and shows why the propaganda we are fed about value, GDP and the like, is propaganda, that blinds us to the reality of our economy. (The written version of this review, in web, PDF, and ebook formats, can be found here.)
Friday Jan 03, 2020
Friday Jan 03, 2020
Václav Havel's famous essay, born of a specific time and place, resonates decades later in our own proto-totalitarian society. What should be done? Havel tells us. (The written version of this review was first published May 18, 2018. Written versions, in web and PDF formats, are available here.)
Thursday Dec 26, 2019
Thursday Dec 26, 2019
I thought this book was be good; I was wrong. Free market fundamentalism is bad, to be sure, but what Karl Polanyi offers isn't better, and his analysis is dated. (The written version of this review, in web, PDF, and ebook formats, can be found here.)