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1 month ago | 
claremontreviewofbooks.com | Algis Valiunas |Mark Helprin |Edward Feser |William Voegeli
Since the dawn of the atomic age, when we gained the capacity to destroy everything there is, we have grown superficially accustomed to the possible end of civilized life—or even of all human life—on earth, blunting the edge of a wholesome and salutary fear. But, of course, to live with full, unremitting awareness of how precarious our condition really is would be intolerable, so a certain insouciance proves wholesome, and salutary, too.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
firstthings.com | Algis Valiunas
Martin Heidegger is notorious for his embrace of Nazism in the 1930s. Yet he was a luminous commentator on the religious substance of modern poetry. Perhaps because of his own misbegotten metaphysical aspirations, Heidegger could feel and understand the anguish of those who sought but could not secure the soul’s honest exaltation in a disenchanted world.
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
thebulwark.com | Algis Valiunas
The Oceans and the StarsThe Seven Battles and Mutiny of Athena, Patrol Coastal Ship 15A Sea Story, a War Story, a Love Storyby Mark HelprinOverlook, 493 pp., $30 (hardcover) / $19 (paperback)MARK HELPRIN—AUTHOR OF EIGHT NOVELS over the last half-century, including the 1983 bestseller Winter’s Tale, and three collections of short stories—stands apart from the most highly touted novelists of our time, to whom he pays scant attention.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
claremontreviewofbooks.com | Steven Hayward |Daniel Palm |Donald L. Drakeman |Algis Valiunas
Samuel Johnson declared that “men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.” Perhaps Barry Goldwater had this injunction in mind in his famous nomination acceptance speech 50 years ago at the Republican National Convention in San Francisco.
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Oct 16, 2024 | 
thebulwark.com | Algis Valiunas
The Lost Stepsby Alejo Carpentier(trans. Adrian Nathan West)Penguin, 226 pp. (paperback), $18Explosion in a Cathedralby Alejo Carpentier(trans. Adrian Nathan West)Penguin, 311 pp. (paperback), $18AMONG MAJOR LATIN AMERICAN WRITERS of the last century, Alejo Carpentier (1904–1980) is perhaps the least known to readers in the United States.
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Sep 26, 2024 | 
englishteacherweekly.substack.com | Andrew Campbell |Algis Valiunas
Welcome to English Teacher Weekly—your source for what’s worthwhile from the worlds of literature, education, Christian thought, and the humanities. My role here is that of a digital florist. It’s about selection and arrangement. What’s fresh? What’s inspiring? What suits the table? If all goes well, this week’s bouquet will enliven the day-to-day with a little literary zest. A touch of beauty, a bit of whimsy, a dash of the eccentric. ETW is here to serve. Enjoy this week’s edition.
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Sep 19, 2024 | 
nationalreview.com | Algis Valiunas
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Sep 18, 2024 | 
thebulwark.com | Algis Valiunas
Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rentby Judi Dench with Brendan O’HeaSt. Martin’s, 375 pages, $32THIS BOOK IS A TROVE OF INSTRUCTION, amusement, lore, and wisdom. Originally, it was not intended to be a book at all, but a recording of conversations destined for everlasting obscurity in the archives of the Globe Theatre. The change of plan, triggered by the curiosity of a grandson’s friend, should be welcomed by all.
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Sep 6, 2024 | 
eppc.org | Edward Whelan |George Weigel |Algis Valiunas |Henry Olsen
Published August 29, 2024National Review OnlineIn a ruling Tuesday in Tennessee v. Becerra, a divided panel of the Sixth Circuit held that the state of Tennessee was not entitled to a preliminary injunction that would prevent the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from terminating its Title X family-planning grant. The panel majority makes a muddle of the Supreme Court’s recent directive in Loper Bright Enterprises v.
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Sep 5, 2024 | 
eppc.org | Henry Olsen |Francis X. Maier |George Weigel |Algis Valiunas
Published August 28, 2024National Review OnlineDonald Trump is reportedly frustrated by Kamala Harris’s rise in the polls. It’s clear that he needs to take her down a notch or two, but he and his advisers are flummoxed as to how to do it. They should take a page from Abraham Lincoln’s playbook and lure Harris into doing the dirty work herself. Lincoln’s 1858 Senate campaign versus Stephen Douglas is best known for its historic series of debates.
