Whilst Reading: A Portrait of Sofia Kramskoya, the Painter’s Wife (Ivan Kramskoi, 1866)Image Source. Earlier this year I asked if the ‘great books’ have a place in the 21st century. Jospeh Sobran says that they do: “Dogged readers of my columns will observe that I habitually quote a handful of classic writings, chiefly the Shakespeare […]
The Great Kangxi. Source: Wikimedia. Born Aixin-Jueluo Xuanye and styled Kangxi, his reign was the longest of any emperor. To this day no Chinese scholar has followed in the foot steps of Arthur Schlesinger Sr. and gathered China’s best historians together to rank all of China’s emperors, but if the task ever is completed, we […]
Car bomb in Peshawar. Source: Mohammad Sajjad/Associated Press. 29 September 2013. Last week I penned a two–post series on the purpose of and underlying reasons for the savage terrorist attacks radical Islamic groups have launched across the world. I argued that these attacks were not “senseless” acts of violence, nor merely the results of fanatic […]
How to make sense of radical Islamic terrorism? This violence is barbaric – but it is not senseless. When you understand the society from which savagery has sprung, the cold logic behind these attacks becomes all too apparent. Part II of a series; Part I is here. How do you save a civilization from […]
How to make sense of radical Islamic terrorism? This violence is barbaric – but it is not senseless. When you understand the society from which savagery has sprung, the cold logic behind these attacks becomes all too apparent. Part I in a series; Part II is here. Smoke rises from the Westgate MallSource: Jerome Delay/AP. […]
Patrick Deneen has written a column for The American Conservative that is worth reading. In two paragraphs near the end he captures America’s political malaise; in one sentence (which I have bolded ) he nails the only viable solution to her woes: We are, of course, all prone to explain contemporary debates in terms of […]
I will need my readers help on this one. Earlier today Al Jazeera published an interactive feature titled “Violence against India’s women.” The info-graphic summarizes a wide range of data relating to sexual violence in India, including the byzantine process victims of rapes must navigate before charges can be pressed. What caught my eye was […]
