Books
February 13, 2013 — Steven Hayward
We haven’t taken sufficient notice here of the decision of Pope Benedict XVI to abdicate. Pope Benedict has always labored in the shadow, so to speak, of his charismatic and highly consequential predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who we can rightly claim had a key role in bringing about the demise of the Soviet empire. I write about this a lot in my second Age of Reagan, and I won’t
»
February 11, 2013 — John Hinderaker
This afternoon, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha at the White House. Sgt. Romesha received the medal for his heroism in helping to fight off an attack in 2009 by more than 300 Taliban who threatened to overrun Combat Outpost Keating, in northeastern Afghanistan. For some reason, the Daily Mail web site seems to have the most complete account of the ceremony, and the
»
February 10, 2013 — Steven Hayward
Machiavelli in Hell is the title of Sebastian De Grazia’s intellectual biography of the infamous Florentine philosopher that tends toward the current conventional view that Machiavelli was a misunderstood republican, which I think is not only mistaken but which drains much of the life and profundity out of Machiavelli’s complex and ambitious teaching. This was the subject of discussion in my graduate class at Pepperdine University on a recent Tuesday,
»
February 7, 2013 — Scott Johnson
In writing the first volume of The Age of Reagan, covering the period 1964-1980, Steve Hayward had an inspired idea. He decided to tell the liberal’s side of the story partly from the perspective of Daniel Patrick Moynihan — “the thinking man’s liberal” — whose career spanned the entire period in view. It is one of many great things about the book. Moynihan’s heroic moment came in his brief representation
»
February 7, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Barry Rubin is the learned historian and commentator on the Middle East who serves as director of Israel’s Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. In our Picks we frequently link to his online comments on current events posted online at The Rubin Report as well as PJ Media’s Rubin Report. The GLORIA Center has now posted 13
»
February 1, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday the Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Henninger built an excellent column on the deep thoughts of Herbert Marcuse. Marcuse was the favorite theorist of the New Left, the man who, as Henninger recalls, developed the theory of “repressive tolerance” that provided the basis for a lot of mischief on campus. The mention of Marcuse’s name brought memories flooding back. When I headed off to college in 1969, Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man
»
January 28, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Edward Jay Epstein is a gifted writer and investigative journalist who has been at it now for nearly 50 years. I hope to have something on his forthcoming book — The Annals of Unsolved Crime — when it is to be published by Melville House next month. I have been a fan of Ed’s since I read Legend: The Secret World of Lee Harvey Oswald when it was published in
»
January 16, 2013 — Scott Johnson
My 2012 book of the year is Charles Kesler’s I Am the Change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism (along with Jean Yarbrough’s Theodore Roosevelt and the American Political Tradition). Kesler is professor of government at Claremont-McKenna College and editor of the Claremont Review of Books, the flagship publication of the Claremont Institute. Kathryn Lopez has an excellent interview with Professor Kesler posted at NRO. I recommend the whole
»
January 15, 2013 — Steven Hayward
A few days ago Bill Kristol posted a reader email on the Weekly Standard blog (the first blog you should read after Power Line) about how Republicans are neglecting the lessons of Xenophon, which we linked to in our “Picks” section here. By coincidence, I begin a close reading of Xenophon’s Education of Cyrus with my Pepperdine University graduate class on political leadership this morning. The Cyropaedia, like the rest
»
January 15, 2013 — Scott Johnson
We are huge fans of Stephen Hunter. Steve is of course the novelist and Pulitzer Prize-winning former film critic of the Washington Post. Of Steve, Glenn Reynolds concisely holds: “Love him, and his books.” Today is the official publication date of Steve’s new Bob Lee Swagger thriller, The Third Bullet. Based on an advance copy, Richard Fernandez has already posted an astute appreciation of the novel. Steve has graciously accepted
»
January 14, 2013 — Scott Johnson
At the end of his Impromptus column today, Jay Nordlinger writes: Let’s end with Yale — with the William F. Buckley, Jr., Program at Yale. The Buckley program had a conference on the last day of November….The theme of the conference was Whittaker Chambers’s great book, Witness — which was published 60 years ago. (Anniversaries are irresistible to organizers of all types.) There was a slew of top-notch speakers, including
»
January 12, 2013 — Scott Johnson
In the fall of 2010 Bill Steigerwald retraced John Steinbeck’s trip around the United States as recounted in Travels With Charley. He set up a blog — Travels Without Charley — to tell the “story of the long trip [he's] been taking with John Steinbeck and his ghost.” He concluded that Steinbeck’s “book is not just full of fiction; it’s also a dishonest account of his iconic journey and what
»
January 9, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Over the holidays my daughter Eliana was home poring over an advance copy of General McChrystal’s memoir, My Share of the Task, officially published this week. She found it absorbing and read it closely. On Monday she followed up with an interview of General McChrstyal. NRO has posted her column “McChrystal’s Share of the Task.” Her take on the book makes points I haven’t seen made elsewhere. I want to
»
January 3, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Robert S. Wistrich is the Neuburger Professor of European and Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the director of the university’s Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism. He is also probably the leading academic authority on anti-Semitism. Witness his monumental histories A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism From Antiquity to the Global Jihad and, most recently, From Ambivalence to Betrayal: The Left, The Jews and Israel,
»
December 30, 2012 — Scott Johnson
Vladimir Bukovsky is the incredibly brave Soviet dissident who spent 12 years in prison and political psychiatric hospitals before his expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1976. His memoir — To Build a Castle — one of the great documents of the era (and now out of print). Today Bukovsky turns 70. Michael Ledeen celebrates the occasion with this arresting observation: We’ve been friends for a long time, ever since
»
December 27, 2012 — Scott Johnson
Reader John Lundstrom writes to add a related note to John Hinderaker’s post “Our history, andi theirs.” He writes: I’ve been a devoted reader of Power line for years and was most interested in your post. I was gratified to see your reference to the glorious First Minnesota and your citing of Wayne Jorgenson’s excellent Every Man Did His Duty. Knowing of your association with Minnesota, I take the liberty
»
December 27, 2012 — Scott Johnson
I’ve struggled with my weight ever since I quit smoking thirty years ago, going up and down 30 pounds several times. All I can tell you is that it’s a helluva lot easier going up than it is coming down, though you probably already knew that. In his capacity as a general service operation, Glenn Reynolds has occasionally cited science writer Gary Taubes and linked to his book Why We
»
