New Norms and the Death of Culture

There are no writers left in America: no impressive novelist, no essayist who commands prestige and popularity. This is true of Britain, too. Now as never before, the great modern empires of liberalism and democracy seem to have nothing to say for themselves. Continue Reading...

Randy E. Barnett: A Principled Commitment to the Truth

The term “Greenhouse effect” is primarily used by the environmentalist movement as an explanation for global warming, but in 1992 Judge Laurence Silberman appropriated the term and in a clever play on words linked it to Linda Greenhouse, the Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter who covered the Supreme Court at the New York Times for more than 40 years. Continue Reading...

Inside Out 2: Fluff, Hijinks—and Exactly the Right Message

My generation’s worst habits are finally being put under the magnifying glass. Social media addiction is getting national attention, from the surgeon general of the United States advising a warning label, to some of the biggest school districts in the country straight-up banning children from using cellphones during the school day. Continue Reading...

The Genius of Franklin

The United States’ Office of the Historian “Milestones” webpage “1776–1783: Diplomacy and the American Revolution” devotes one of its eight sections to Benjamin Franklin, “the most distinguished scientific and literary American of the colonial era” and “the first American diplomat.” Continue Reading...

The Immeasurable Value of One Life

His name will never be as widely recognized as it ought to be, but Nicholas Winton is one of the authentic heroes of the last century. Born in 1909 in Hampstead, London, Winton’s parents were Jewish, but he was brought up in the Church of England. Continue Reading...