History
Arts & Culture, History, Reviews
The Death of Stalin by Armando Iannucci
Thomas Walker-Werth August 28, 2020
Comedy can be a powerful medium for expressing important ideas, and Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin is a standout example.
Arts & Culture, Biographies, History
John Singer Sargent and the Art of Elegance
Timothy Sandefur August 20, 2020
More than any of his contemporaries, Sargent expressed the glamour that emerging capitalism made possible. Yet that is just what made him incomprehensible or unacceptable to later artists and critics.
Biographies, History, Science & Technology
Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Bridges to the Future
Thomas Walker-Werth August 20, 2020
Across Britain, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s innovations stand as triumphant monuments to his genius—and likely will for centuries to come.
History, Philosophy, Reviews
Heroes, Legends, Champions: Why Heroism Matters by Andrew Bernstein
Elliott Hill July 31, 2020
If you appreciate man at his best, read this book. You’ll not only enjoy heroes more deeply, you’ll be better equipped to emulate them, too.
History, Politics & Rights
George Floyd, Revolutions, and the Path to Justice
Jon Hersey June 17, 2020
By burning and pillaging the property of their fellow citizens, rioters spit on the progress their forbears achieved under far worse circumstances.
History, Politics & Rights
The White Rose: A Story of Unsurpassed Courage
Andrew Bernstein May 20, 2020
At the height of the Nazi reign of terror, a group of idealistic young Germans rose to challenge Hitler’s regime. In reference to the moral purity of their cause, they dubbed themselves the “White Rose.”
History, Politics & Rights
Lessons from Wisconsin’s Stand for Freedom
Jon Hersey May 19, 2020
Although the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling is a partial victory for freedom, it falls short of making a principled stand for individual rights.
History, Philosophy, Politics & Rights, Reviews
America’s Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It by C. Bradley Thompson
Jon Hersey March 28, 2020
The first in a two-part series on the country’s fundamental ideas, America’s Revolutionary Mind is not a narrative of events but a systematic re-creation of the philosophy that led colonists to, in the words of Thomas Paine, “begin the world over again.”
Arts & Culture, Biographies, History
Isabella Stewart Gardner: ‘One of the Seven Wonders of Boston’
Jon Hersey March 19, 2020
Isabella Stewart Gardner was a firecracker of a woman with a studied yet eclectic taste in art and the means to acquire lots of it. As one friend put it, she lived “at a rate and intensity, with a reality that makes other lives seem pale, thin and shadowy.”
Arts & Culture, Ayn Rand & Objectivism, History, Philosophy, Politics & Rights
How Heroes Improve Our Lives: An Interview with Andrew Bernstein
Jon Hersey March 12, 2020
In Heroes, Legends, Champions, Andrew Bernstein has created a fascinating hybrid of useful philosophy and inspirational vignettes about outstanding men and women. The result is a book that can help people rise to heroic heights in their own lives.