In my review of Michael Lotus and James Bennett’s America 3.0 I stated that French anthropologist Emmanuel Todd (whose work is cited extensively in said work) “is the most under-rated “big idea” thinker in the field of world history.” Craig Willy’s most recent blog post explains why: “Emmanuel Todd’s L’invention de l’Europe: A critical summary“Craig Willy. […]
This week I finished Sallust’s The Jugurthine War (translated by A.J. Woodman), Michael J. Lotus and James C. Bennett’s America 3.0, and Vaclav Smil’s fantastic The Earth’s Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change. Before the month is over I hope to read or finish: William Freehling’s Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay, 1776-1850 Ji Junxiang’s The Orphan of Zhao. […]
It is unusual for me to read a book aimed at popular conservative audiences. I am something of a disaffected conservative. Crony capitalism and government overreach have proved to be bipartisan endeavors, and I have long lost faith that the Republican party can ever be more than an organ of America’s governing elite. [1] Outside […]
A selection of the 60 volume Great Books of the Western World.Image source. A “proper education” changes with its times. In the days of America’s founding a true education was a classical education. An educated man was not simply expected to be familiar with the great works of Greek and Roman civilization; the study of […]
This post was originally published in December 2010. A comment thread at Zenpundit’s place has inspired me to resurrect it. I recently read a book by survivalist blogger James Wesley Rawles, How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It. This reading has prompted a few thoughts on the aims and validity of […]
What impact does culture have on cognition? Psychologist Richard Nisbett has conducted dozens of studies to find out the answer to this question. Presented in The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently, the results of his study are fascinating – and their implications far reaching. “Perception: How Germans and Chinese See Each Other” from […]
The Capitol Building, c. 1910. Image Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, “Detroit Publishing Co. Collection” no. 039985. [Link] The corruption of the United States Congress by monied interests and its eclipse by the other branches of the federal government is a topic we regularly return to. [1] It is not difficult to show that this […]
Last month Zenpundit brought to my attention an interesting debate between military historian Lt. Col. Robert Bateman and classicist Victor Davis Hanson. The topic up for debate was Carnage and Culture, the magnum opus of Mr. Hanson’s career. For those unfamiliar with the work, the thesis of Carnage and Culture is stated eloquently on its […]
I came across the website Five Books today. The gist is this: every day the website interviews one politician, scholar, or pundit by asking them to pick the best five books on their self-selected “specialty subject” and explain why these five books ought to be read by the broader public and how these books influenced […]
In a previous discussion I mentioned the important part narrative building plays in human cognition. As it turns out, I am not the only person to reach this conclusion. This week’s “intriguing passage” comes from the pen of Azar Gat, excerpted from his awesome War in Human Civilization. It excellently illuminates the human need to […]
