Reviews
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.
Arts & Culture, Education & Parenting, Reviews
Phineas and Ferb by Dan Povenmire and Jeff ‘Swampy’ Marsh
Andreea Mincu March 2, 2021
Cheerful songs, witty writing, benevolent humor, and contagious optimism make Phineas and Ferb a great work of soul-fueling art, not only for children but for adults as well. Its brilliant optimism and reality-first approach make every episode a delight.
Arts & Culture, History, Reviews
Sophocles: Oedipus the King, A New Verse Translation by David Kovacs
Timothy Sandefur March 2, 2021
Oedipus the King has been considered a masterpiece for two and a half millennia. No less a luminary than Aristotle called it the ideal tragedy. But today’s readers are often disturbed by its apparent injustice. How is it fair that the gods consign Oedipus—a genuine hero who strives to avoid committing the sins for which he is damned—to such an awful fate?
Arts & Culture, Reviews
The Iron Lady, Written by Abi Morgan
Angelica Walker-Werth February 12, 2021
Margaret Thatcher is one of the most controversial figures in modern history. Some consider her to have been a cruel, heartless villain who destroyed jobs and livelihoods, whereas others revere her as a valiant defender of liberty and the free market who saved her country’s economy.
History, Politics & Rights, Reviews
A Glorious Liberty: Frederick Douglass and the Fight for an Antislavery Constitution by Damon Root
Timothy Sandefur February 9, 2021
Root’s book provides a thoroughly researched and readable introduction to the arguments that formed the basis of what has rightly been called the “refounding” of the United States a century and a half ago—and that remain relevant today.
Arts & Culture, Reviews
Wonder Woman 1984, Written and Directed by Patty Jenkins
Frank Olechnowicz January 29, 2021
Wonder Woman 1984 is a dark film that reflects writer/director Patty Jenkins’s sense of life and her confusions concerning morality and capitalism.
Arts & Culture, Education & Parenting, Reviews
Hercules, Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker
Andreea Mincu January 15, 2021
If you have a youthful soul or are a parent looking for the rare story that shows that heroism is not inborn or altruistic but the result of one’s choices and rational values, Hercules belongs on your watchlist.
History, Philosophy, Politics & Rights, Reviews
Freedom: An Unruly History by Annelien de Dijn
Timothy Sandefur January 14, 2021
Far from a history of liberty, de Dijn’s book is a conscious effort to undermine that concept and to substitute in its place what she calls a “democratic conception of freedom,” which, in principle, amounts to collective control over every aspect of individual behavior.
Arts & Culture, Reviews
The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge by Michael Punke
William Nauenburg January 5, 2021
For those wanting to see the epitome of determination and willpower in action, few stories provide such a visceral experience as The Revenant.