It used to be a fundamental article of faith among American conservatives that the Constitution can only be understood in the context of the Founders’ original intentions. So, is it reasonable to believe that the Founders intended a president to have the power to pardon himself? The Constitution gives the president “Power to grant Reprieves [...]
The author doing his best James Bond impression It has been quipped that every man wants to be James Bond and every woman wants to be with him. If you really want to know James Bond you need to read Ian Fleming’s novels. They are ripping good adventure stories, just like the movies. [...]
Buckley apparently did not resist the ideas of collectivism as successfully as he thought. Instead, he chose to aim for winning a contemporary battle rather than defending the Permanent Things… William F. Buckley’s God and Man at Yale is one of the classics of conservatism. Written in 1951 during the Cold War, the book is [...]
Americans turned to the concrete lessons of history and experience to guide them in securing their liberty. The French, on the other hand, deified Reason above not only experience, but also above religion and divine revelation. One of the many differences between the American and French Revolutions is that, unlike the French, Americans did not [...]
The misguided effort to have Yale University rename Calhoun College is a sign that we contemporary Americans have a tendency to forget who we are, and to engage in what has become known as political correctness. The advocates of political correctness want to corrupt history for temporary political gain, and their efforts are, sadly, a [...]
Anyone who doesn’t like good barbecue deserves a lump of charcoal in his stocking. Barbecue, like politics, should be local. So get your special someone a gift pack of some of the South’s best regional barbecue sauces: Owensboro, Kentucky’s Moonlite Bar-B-Q’s sweet tomato based sauce The original white sauce (terrific on chicken) from Decatur, Alabama’s Big [...]
We understand and sympathize with people’s anger and frustration about recent events in Charleston, but the misguided effort to damage the statue of Vice-President John C. Calhoun in Marion Square, as well as the many other destructive acts throughout the nation, is a sign of how we as contemporary Americans have a tendency to “forget [...]
Historian Michael O’Brien has called the South’s music Southern culture’s “major contribution” to the world.[1] The South has offered the world Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Bluegrass, and Rock and Roll. Without the South we would lack the music of Elvis, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Mahalia Jackson, Hank Williams, Bill Monroe, Robert Johnson, and Bessie Smith. Southern, [...]
As one who has published on William Gilmore Simms, the Old South’s greatest author, I am periodically asked where one should begin reading his works. This is a good question. Most readers today are not very familiar with Simms. Add to this the fact that he published over eighty books, and it is easy to [...]
“Is there, my Books, a charm which ye have not, No!—When with you, the world is all forgot.” —William Gilmore Simms, “Sonnet—To My Books,” 1823 The beginning of a new year provides me with an opportunity to outline a personal reading plan for the coming year and to reflect upon the books I read last [...]
Gifts for imaginative conservatives are bound to be gifts for readers. Keeping that in mind, permit me to suggest some reading tools and accessories as holiday gift ideas. It is no secret that I love Filson. Their American-made bags and coats are among the best, and toughest, you will ever find. Consider Filson’s wool and [...]
Business Insider caused a sensation with their list “The Most Famous Book Set In Every State.” And when we say “sensation,” we mean “shock and anger.” While some of their picks are obvious, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for Kansas or To Kill a Mockingbird for Alabama, others provoked more consternation. Does Louisiana deserve to [...]
Had I the Wings: The Friendship of Bachman & Audubon, by Jay Shuler Jay Shuler’s Had I the Wings is unusual in that it focuses not on an individual or an event, but on a friendship. Together, with the assistance of their families, John Bachman and John Audubon produced two of the seminal works of [...]
One of the many differences between the American and French Revolutions is that, unlike the French, Americans did not fight for an abstraction. Americans initially took up arms against the British to defend and preserve the traditional rights of Englishmen. The slogan “no taxation without representation” aptly summed up one of their chief complaints. The [...]