The other day at a friends-of-the library, used-book sale, I picked up a copy of Substitute: Going to School with a Thousand Kids. The author recounts a month’s worth of experience in Maine, doing time as a substitute teacher with…
My love of reading came early, and not just from my teachers. While we did Dick and Jane in school, my most important first grade reader, however, was something rather different: a large format, beautifully bound, copiously illustrated tome called…
Last week I attended a preview of Robert Eggers’ new film, The Northman, in Minneapolis. I got in because I’m a Viking reenactor, and some of my buddies and I went in our Viking clothes. This isn’t a review, but…
What would it mean to world peace if Muslims with influence were to lead a movement for liberty in religious affairs, as well as in politics? A lot, of course, but what are the chances? In Afghanistan the Taliban are…
“We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst,” wrote C. S. Lewis, commenting in his book The Abolition of Man about propagandistic trends in education. These days public school educators laugh at patriotism and are not…
I have tried to think of something appropriate to say upon the end of this endeavor at saving Western Civilization through journalism. Western Civilization remains unsaved. That is the first thought that comes to mind. What could I have been…
When Alex Berenson, the former New York Times reporter, said that people will look back on the coronavirus lockdown as a “colossal mistake,” many scoffed. But with each passing day, as the failures of government at every level become clearer,…
When he wrote The Making of a Fly, biologist Peter Lawrence probably did not expect his investigation into developmental genetics to rival the Magna Carta. But in 2011, copies of this book were listed for sale at Amazon for $23.6…
In a modern world of dispiriting news, I offer for your perusal something uplifting. It’s an edifying letter from August 1982, found only recently, written by a great man and great president. Credit goes to Karen Tumulty, who discovered the…
For the first time in more than a half century, life expectancy declined for two consecutive years in the United States. The CDC reports that “accidental injuries” rising to third on the list of killer categories helped account for the…