Reviews
History, Politics & Rights, Reviews
The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760–1840 by Akhil Reed Amar
Timothy Sandefur June 2, 2021
Americans need a book that will help them better understand the values underlying our early constitutional history—and they need an authoritative and compelling intellectual voice to explain and vindicate the nation’s fundamental law. Sad to say, they will not find those here.
Arts & Culture, Reviews
Ibsen’s Kingdom: The Man and His Works by Evert Sprinchorn
Timothy Sandefur May 14, 2021
“One of the most extraordinary features of Ibsen’s works,” Sprinchorn writes, is the way “each play grows out of its predecessor.” By examining them in order, he draws out their weightier elements, combining an acute understanding of theater and a thorough grasp of the political, social, and artistic controversies that set the background for Ibsen’s career.
Philosophy, Reviews
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Angelica Walker-Werth May 3, 2021
Although philosophically flawed and at times repetitive and anecdotal, The God Delusion presents interesting arguments against God and religion and generally in favor of a worldview informed by science.
Economics, Politics & Rights, Reviews
Wall Street (1987), by Stanley Weiser and Oliver Stone
F. F. Mormanni April 29, 2021
Although fraudsters certainly exist on Wall Street, the vast majority of traders are honest, value driven, and focused on innovating and creating wealth.
Politics & Rights, Reviews
What Killed Michael Brown? by Shelby Steele
Molly Sechrest April 23, 2021
Steele clarifies key issues in the discussion on race, showing how leftists grabbed power by claiming the moral high ground, despite their abysmal disregard for those whose lives are destroyed by their policies.
Reviews
Letter to the Editor: Keep the TOS Reviews Coming
TOS Admin April 20, 2021
I just wanted to send a note expressing my appreciation of the book/film/TV reviews that you publish periodically. Over the past few weeks, I have been watching Anne with an “E”, but I would never even have heard of it if not for the review published in TOS.
History, Reviews
Creating Christ: How Roman Emperors Invented Christianity by James Valliant and Warren Fahy
Andrew Bernstein April 20, 2021
Creating Christ provides a trove of unprecedented insights about the genesis of the modern world’s most popular religion. All interested in Christianity’s provenance would do well to read this boldly original book.
Arts & Culture, History, Reviews
The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War by Louis Menand
Timothy Sandefur April 13, 2021
Louis Menand is a writer of great gifts, whose 2000 book The Metaphysical Club is a masterpiece of intellectual history. Unfortunately, The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War fails to recapture the magic. That’s partly because despite its bulk—880 pages—it’s curiously incomplete.
Arts & Culture, Reviews
WandaVision, Created by Jac Schaeffer
Thomas Walker-Werth March 12, 2021
WandaVision makes the viewer think while also providing a feast of artistic detail and a gripping mystery story. It’s a rare gem in today’s television landscape.
Economics, Politics & Rights, Reviews
Secrets of the Magna Carta, Written by Martin Durkin
Thomas Walker-Werth March 7, 2021
The sealing of the Magna Carta in 1215 was a major turning point in world history. In the 2017 two-part documentary Secrets of the Magna Carta, writer Martin Durkin sets out to tell the story of this incredible document and its legacy.