History
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?
History, Philosophy
Common Sense for Objectivists: Five Reasons for Fans of Ayn Rand to Study Thomas Reid
Jon Hersey February 26, 2021
Thomas Reid is not only an excellent foil against which to compare and better understand Ayn Rand’s views, his fierce wit, clear exposition of philosophic problems, and insightful solutions make him a thinker worth reading in his own right.
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.
Economics, History, Politics & Rights
George Reisman on Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand, and Capitalism
Jim Brown February 5, 2021
"Karl Marx taught that if you are a capitalist, you’re controlled by your so-called 'class interest,' but, of course, there is no such thing. People make decisions based on the ideas they accept as true." —George Reisman
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, History, Politics & Rights, Reviews, Science & Technology
Chernobyl, by Craig Mazin
Jennifer K. Crosby December 11, 2020
Chernobyl explores the reasons for a monumental catastrophe and illustrates how it was magnified by the evasion and denial of those in charge.
Arts & Culture, History
Three Symphonies to Help You Triumph
Leisa Hart October 15, 2020
Finding music that conveys struggle and eventual triumph is difficult because, to depict true triumph, one has to study it intensely and perhaps experience it firsthand. But such music is a wonderful source of inspiration and empowerment.
Arts & Culture, History, Philosophy, Politics & Rights, Reviews
Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay
Timothy Sandefur October 2, 2020
In Cynical Theories, Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay explore the connections between such phenomena as “shoutdowns,” “canceling,” and identity politics on the one hand and the philosophical doctrines taught in America’s universities on the other.
Arts & Culture, Good Living, History
How Travel Can Foster a Personal Renaissance
Joseph Kellard September 17, 2020
I once found it difficult to relate to the excitement travelers expressed at walking the same streets their heroes did centuries earlier. Not so after walking through cities where a hero of mine revolutionized art and science.
History, Philosophy, Politics & Rights
CJ Pearson Identifies a Cause of 9/11—but Not the Fundamental Cause
Craig Biddle September 11, 2020
The fundamental cause of the atrocity on 9/11 was acceptance of faith as a means of knowledge. This cause set all of the other, derivative causes in motion.