Winter 2022 • Vol 17, No. 4

To understand whether abortion violates rights, we need to understand what rights are, where they come from, and how they apply in this context.

Joe Kroeger was a delightful man. He was extremely intelligent, highly productive, and enjoyed a long career in the technology sector. But Joe was not merely a man of ability. He also loved human ability.

Both Mike Rowe and Ayn Rand understand the necessity—and virtue—of personal responsibility. Their work offers powerful guidance for individuals to effect positive change in their own lives and beyond.

Superb literary tragedy induces in us unforgettable intellectual-emotional experiences of human error leading to the agonizing downfalls of even great (or formerly great) men. As philosophy, it does not tell but shows us in searing action many major errors to avoid if a flourishing life is our goal.

The life and fate of banned Russian novelist Vasily Grossman is a tragedy worthy of his own novelistic skills. More than fifty years after his passing, we can only imagine what he might have achieved had communist tyranny not stifled him.

Elihu Palmer bravely advocated a philosophy of reason, based on observation of nature, when religion and superstition dominated the culture. He did this not only in spite of fierce popular resistance but also in defiance of tragic personal circumstances.

Ayatollah Khamenei has said that an Islamic revival is spreading through the Middle East, not by conscious intent, but “like the scent of spring flowers that is carried by the breeze.” Maybe so, but a headwind is blowing steadily and insistently from the West.

Rights pertain to how people may treat one another. They establish a baseline of permissible conduct between individuals. But when we’re talking about a pregnant woman, we’re not talking about two individuals, each with rights, one of whom just happens to reside within the other.

Including works by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Claude McKay, Eliza Cook, Walter de la Mare, and Sara Teasdale.

On September 21, 2022, the Russian government announced that it was conscripting 300,000 men to go to the front lines in Ukraine. This desperate act on the part of Putin’s regime further demonstrates its complete disregard for individual rights—not only those of Ukrainians, as was already obvious, but of Russians as well.

Although he foresaw and avoided the deadly consequences of both armed conflict in Soviet republics and the continuation of Cold War hostilities, Gorbachev’s legacy falls far short of the praise heaped on it. Instead, the final Soviet leader’s legacy should serve to illuminate the evils of communism and collectivism more broadly.

Israel is the only state in the Middle East that substantially recognizes individual rights. Yet many American and European professors increasingly show support for anti-Israel movements and tyrannical regimes that aim to erase Israel from the map.

Elliot Ackerman’s The Fifth Act may be the first great book about the Afghanistan war. It uses the nauseating surrender of the United States to the Taliban in 2021 as a point of departure for a series of reflections on the irrationality with which the war was waged and the consequences of that irrationality for American culture.

“Who sets the tone of a culture?,” asked Ayn Rand. “A small handful of men: the philosophers.” According to Robert Tracinski, many of Rand’s followers have taken this to mean that efforts toward a better future should focus on university humanities departments. But, in his latest book, Tracinski argues that this is only part of the story.

Declassified tells the stories not only of the loves and losses of Beethoven and Brahms but of the heartbreak of a young musician who built a life for herself atop the expectations of others—and who, in the wake of inevitable disappointment, learned to salvage her love of classical music and spotlight its value for all to see.

Unfortunately, Hocus Pocus 2 (2022) features only the trappings of the original, with watered-down characters, a weak plot, and no moral message.

The Orville: New Horizons explores complex issues in a balanced manner and presents a positive but believable vision of the future, resulting in one of the best science-fiction shows in recent decades.

In Soul Celebrations and Spiritual Snacks, York draws our attention to two areas where many could benefit from focusing more and more regularly: the deep need for ongoing spiritual renewal—and numerous specific means by which to attain it.