History

July 26, 2017

Reading ‘Democracy in America’ (Part 3): Tocqueville’s feudal assumptions

This is the third part in a series on how to read Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. Read the introduction and follow the entire series here. Prior to delving into the text of Alexis Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, it behooves us to get some historical context so that we can understand his observations, analyses, and conclusions. Continue Reading...

July 25, 2017

Review: A visually powerful tribute to The Dunkirk Spirit

In a new blockbuster film, director Christopher Nolan faithfully captures for the big screen the frantic chaos and desperation of the Allied forces at Dunkirk in 1940. It is another vivid reminder that, as so many throughout history have reminded us, “War is hell.” Continue Reading...

July 21, 2017

Did the Reformation lead to ‘economic secularization’?

In his famous work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber attempted to draw a clear link between the Protestant Reformation and the rise of capitalism, focusing mostly on the Puritans and their (faulty) connections between spiritual significance and economic prosperity. Continue Reading...

July 20, 2017

Deirdre McCloskey’s case for ‘humane libertarianism’

In Deirdre McCloskey’s latest book, Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World, she adds a hearty layer to her ongoing thesis about the sources of our newfound prosperity. Continue Reading...

July 14, 2017

Human machines & the nature of man

On Tuesday, Newsweek published an article relating how the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) allocated $65 million to develop brain implants “to link human brains with computers.” Neuro-technology has been a priority of the U.S. Continue Reading...

July 13, 2017

Lenin’s Trip to Infamy

One hundred years ago, the man Winston Churchill dubbed a “plague bacillus” journeyed back from his exile in Europe to eventually seize the reins of power in his native Russia. Vladimir Lenin’s itinerary could not have been more fraught with peril and subterfuge, which makes it an ideal framing story for a recap of the rise of 20th century totalitarianism. Continue Reading...

July 11, 2017

Reading ‘Democracy in America’ (Part 2): What did Tocqueville mean by ‘equality of condition’?

This is the second part in a series on how to read Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America.” Read Part 1 and follow the entire series here. As we begin our study of Democracy in America, we bear in mind that the work’s distinguished author, Alexis de Tocqueville, blessed us with a clear, concise introduction to the two-volume work. Continue Reading...

June 06, 2017

Fusionism and Western Civ

Pope Leo XIII, writing in the midst of social crisis at the end of the nineteenth century, wisely observed: “When a society is perishing, the wholesome advice to give to those who would restore it is to call it to the principles from which it sprang.” Continue Reading...

May 18, 2017

Hemingway, Hollywood and Communism

Red-phobia is once again all the rage. Today, the question asked by the media and politicians is whether Russia had a hand in turning the U.S. election in Donald Trump’s favor. Continue Reading...

May 04, 2017

Remembering Edward Ericson, Calvin College teacher and Solzhenitsyn scholar

If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. Continue Reading...

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