About Stephen Masty

Stephen Masty (1954-2015) was Senior Contributor to The Imaginative Conservative. He was a journalist, a development expert, and a speechwriter for three US presidents, as well as for British royalty and heads of government in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. He spent most of his adulthood working in South Asia, including Afghanistan, and he was a writer, poet and artist in Kathmandu.

Mark Twain’s “Joan of Arc”

By |2024-01-08T17:44:12-06:00January 8th, 2024|Categories: Books, Christianity, G.K. Chesterton, Religion, Stephen Masty, Timeless Essays|Tags: |

“I studied that girl, Joan of Arc, for twelve years,” Mark Twain said, “and it never seemed to me that the artists and the writers gave us a true picture of her. They drew a picture of a peasant. But they always missed the face—the divine soul, the pure character, the supreme woman, the wonderful [...]

Toast the New Year as the Founders Did

By |2023-12-31T18:47:58-06:00December 31st, 2023|Categories: American Founding, New Year's Day, Senior Contributors, Stephen Masty, Timeless Essays|

Think that Franklin and Jefferson celebrated the victory at Yorktown with a cheap jug of Wal-Mart red? Or signed the Declaration of Independence with a few six-packs (even of Sam Adams beer)? If so, you may be reading the wrong online journal. When celebrating anything important, for dinner-parties or even  just drinking with friends, it [...]

Lost Temples, Giant Spiders, & the Death of Western Civilization

By |2023-02-01T12:10:37-06:00January 31st, 2023|Categories: Christopher Dawson, Modernity, Morality, Russell Kirk, Stephen Masty, Timeless Essays, Western Civilization|

All civilizations wither and die. But maybe the inevitable death of civilizations is partly a lesson in the Vanity of Human Wishes and partly God’s jest, rescued from cruelty because He also designed a Heavenly Reward to be seen in the next movie. You will need to wear your Indiana Jones fedora and stick with [...]

Books That Make Us Human

By |2022-10-26T16:57:11-05:00October 26th, 2022|Categories: Books, Books that Make Us Human, Conservatism, Film, Literature, Stephen Masty, Timeless Essays, Western Civilization|

I take the blame for this idiosyncratic list. Since my betters have identified so many stellar choices, I propose the somewhat obscure: books (presented in no order) that may lead an already-humane human in the direction of the holy as unexpected and inspirational, maybe mischievous and mirthful. Great? Maybe not, but possible nectar for an [...]

Short Quiz: Are You an Imaginative Conservative?

By |2022-09-18T14:40:07-05:00September 17th, 2022|Categories: Conservatism, Satire, Stephen Masty, The Imaginative Conservative, Timeless Essays|

Let’s play 20 Questions! Take the following simple diagnostic test to see if you are an Imaginative Conservative or something else. Or better yet, try it on your friends so you’ll know whether to pay for the next round of drinks or hail a taxi. Answers, scored at the bottom, are the author’s interpretations and [...]

When Books Die, All at Once

By |2021-08-23T14:04:24-05:00August 23rd, 2021|Categories: Books, Featured, Literature, Stephen Masty, Timeless Essays|

So, neither with a bang nor a whimper, the world ends with the remains of Western Civilization, now unlettered for many reasons, increasingly under-read, alone by choice, and still self-compelled to communicate. Never has the stock market soared higher nor the supply of affordable books been cheaper. Lucky or cursed, let us examine the latter—about [...]

Among the Paynim: Afghanistan in Perspective

By |2021-08-20T09:18:40-05:00August 18th, 2021|Categories: Foreign Affairs, Stephen Masty, Timeless Essays|Tags: |

The lesson for American conservatives is this: Shrink the size and aspirations of government at home and abroad; shun future foreign entanglements as General Washington advised; but keep cooperating more closely with Afghans and stick it out for America’s own lasting safety. If American leaders can survive the impatience of their electorate, success may be [...]

The Sun Also Sets: Legacies of Empire

By |2021-08-16T08:48:02-05:00August 15th, 2021|Categories: Foreign Affairs, Stephen Masty, Timeless Essays|Tags: |

An unquestioned sense of nationalistic superiority, racial no longer, is now more American than British, and in Afghanistan every step of interaction from American officials is calculated to diminish, insult or express official disdain for the foreign subjects of Empire. As the United States pulls its troops out of Afghanistan after a 20-year war, The [...]

“The Unfortunate Fate of Septimus Wise”: A Ghost Story

By |2023-10-29T14:35:45-05:00October 30th, 2018|Categories: Fiction, Halloween, Stephen Masty|

The young man intended to purchase my death and, presumably and in some manner carry it away so that I never would meet with it. Immortality, wealth, my beloved Jessica all rotated in kaleidoscopic vision before my eyes. Editor’s Note: The following short story was left unpublished at the author’s death. Thomas Masty, the author’s [...]

Russian Intrigue: Déjà vu All Over Again

By |2015-09-03T15:54:54-05:00September 3rd, 2015|Categories: Books, England, History, Russia, Stephen Masty, War|

Britannia & the Bear: The Anglo-Russian Intelligence Wars 1917-1929, by Victor Madeira (The Boydell Press, UK) Another cache of secret documents may not make forgotten history timelier than this. Modern asymmetrical confrontation truly began after 1914-1918, chiefly between Great Britain and what soon became the Soviet Union. While American troops tipped the balance and sailed home [...]

Should We Stop Dumb People From Voting?

By |2022-10-25T19:09:18-05:00August 17th, 2015|Categories: Featured, Politics, Stephen Masty|

We need to consider whether we need to stop some people from voting. Mob rule expands daily. The universal franchise, whereby every adult can vote who wishes to, is a ticket to the asylum. It is not every column that solves all of America’s problems, much less says how in a single piece of popular [...]

Newspeak, Tribal Warfare & Coming to Grips with Diversity

By |2015-08-06T00:11:58-05:00August 6th, 2015|Categories: Culture, Religion, Stephen Masty|

Spending little time in America nowadays but reading from afar, it has taken me years to understand her conservatives’ upset with diversity. It turned my American friends (at least the majority, conservatives) apoplectic, purple with rage and spluttering incomprehensibly. Anyone overhearing would have thought them idiots or stroke victims, or the hopelessly senile ranting about [...]

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