The Summer of 1940 and the Fate of Western Civilization

There have been pivotal battles that, had they gone another way, would have changed the direction of Western history: John Sobieski’s victory over the Ottoman Empire at the gates of Vienna, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Washington’s stand at Valley Forge, Wellington’s triumph at Waterloo, but none was as critical for the fate of Western civilization as the events that transpired over the summer and early fall of 1940. Continue Reading...

Video Vikings and Christian Conversion

When Viking reenactors (like me) chat around campfires among our wedge-shaped tents, certain topics are likely to come up in conversation. One favorite: everything that’s wrong with the History Channel’s Vikings TV series (2013–2020). Continue Reading...

What to the Abolitionist Was the Fourth of July?

In academia and culture alike, it has become fashionable to dismiss the principles associated with American independence as shortsighted at best and intentionally exclusionary at worst. “Neither Jefferson nor most of the founders intended to abolish slavery,” wrote Nikole Hannah-Jones in the New York Times Magazine debut of the 1619 Project in August 2019. Continue Reading...

The Waning of the Modern Age

Happy centennial, Johan Huizinga! He wrote his famous history book, The Waning of the Middle Ages, in 1919, but an English translation came out in 1924 and changed the way many thought about writing history. Continue Reading...

A Graves Goodbye to WWI

This year marks the 95th anniversary of the book that for many solidified the view that World War I dealt a deadly a blow to European culture: Robert Graves’ Goodbye to All That. Continue Reading...