The Divisions & Trade Wars Leading Up to the Monroe Doctrine

By |2020-05-21T14:25:21-05:00May 21st, 2020|Categories: American Republic, Bradley J. Birzer, Economics, England, Free Trade, History, Senior Contributors|

Even though President James Monroe could not fix the economy or dismiss the Missouri question, he could certainly distract the nation from its problems. In his second inaugural address, he gleefully announced a new target for American anger: The British were not allowing free trade between the United States and the English-occupied West Indies. Whatever [...]

The Best Shakespeare Story Ever

By |2020-04-22T12:05:00-05:00April 22nd, 2020|Categories: Books, Christine Norvell, England, Imagination, Literature, Senior Contributors, William Shakespeare|

Marchette Chute’s “Shakespeare of London” is a delight to read. With a fluid narrative, Chute has produced a fascinating wealth of research in a most readable form. Shakespeare of London, by Marchette Chute (397 pages, E.P. Dutton and Company, 1949) It was a classic when it was first published in 1949, but it remains a [...]

Britain’s Not-So-Evil Empire

By |2020-02-05T14:06:18-06:00February 5th, 2020|Categories: Books, Civilization, England, Europe, History|

“Imperial Legacies” is a spirited polemic that exposes the misunderstandings, cynical disregard, and hypocrisy surrounding the history of the British Empire. Jeremy Black systematically debunks the ideologies of “decolonization” and postcolonial resentment and shows the harm of dismissing British history as a story of monolithic oppression. Imperial Legacies: The British Empire Around the World, by [...]

The Postmodern Heroism of John Milton

By |2023-12-08T19:42:52-06:00December 8th, 2019|Categories: Culture, England, Great Books, John Milton, Literature, Politics, Timeless Essays|

Instead of putting John Milton in the context of his own time, scholar David Hawkes proposes to put him in the context of ours, believing that the great poet and political writer’s life and work offer solutions to our own predicament. John Milton: A Hero of Our Time, by David Hawkes (356 pages, Counterpoint, 2010) [...]

Tolkien & Anglo-Saxon England: Protectors of Christendom

By |2020-02-01T12:32:53-06:00November 10th, 2019|Categories: Bradley J. Birzer, Christendom, Christian Humanism, England, History, J.R.R. Tolkien, Myth, Senior Contributors, StAR, Timeless Essays|

J.R.R. Tolkien believed that the Anglo-Saxon world might offer us strength to redeem Christendom. The hero of “The Lord of the Rings,” after all, is an Anglo-Saxon farmer turned citizen-warrior. Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords our readers the opportunity to join Bradley J. Birzer, as he discusses J.R.R. Tolkien’s christological interpretation of [...]

Brexit and Evensong

By |2019-10-26T21:55:19-05:00October 26th, 2019|Categories: Conservatism, England, Europe, Glenn Arbery, Politics, Senior Contributors, Wyoming Catholic College|

While in London, my wife and I went to evensong at Westminster Abbey. Throughout the trip, evensong somehow gave us the symbol—high, formal, and beautiful—of the end of the day, both of British greatness and the vitality of Europe. After the Vanenburg Conference at Oxford earlier this month, my wife and I went to London [...]

Brexit or Leave It

By |2019-10-09T06:43:29-05:00October 8th, 2019|Categories: Conservatism, England, Europe, Government, Joseph Pearce, Politics, Senior Contributors|

What does the European Union have in common with Hotel California? The answer is that you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. Take, for instance, the ongoing Brexit saga. Over and again, in one democratic vote after another, the British people have made it abundantly clear that they have [...]

An Introduction to English War Poetry

By |2019-08-09T21:38:25-05:00August 9th, 2019|Categories: Death, England, History, Literature, Poetry, War, World War I|

The poet’s career doesn’t end once he dies. The soldier’s career arguably does. The poet-soldier, then, has died physically, but what remains of him is his art. Both Edward Thomas and Francis Ledwidge managed to create something that transcended their persons and lasted long after being killed in war. When we think of English poetry, [...]

The Iconoclasm and Profanity of Roger Scruton’s Sacking

By |2020-02-26T16:04:40-06:00May 1st, 2019|Categories: Conservatism, Culture War, England, Free Speech, Paul Krause, Roger Scruton|

The impetuous call to sack Roger Scruton shows those who clamored for the blade of the guillotine to fall on his head for what they are. His sacking also exposed the concerted effort to demonize and silence anyone outside the public orthodoxy of thought... Sir Roger Scruton is one of the preeminent conservative intellectuals in [...]

Banning Books and Burning Heretics

By |2021-05-10T03:32:22-05:00January 24th, 2019|Categories: Civil Society, Culture, Culture War, England, Ethics, Free Speech, Joseph Pearce, Literature, Modernity, Poetry, Rights, Senior Contributors, Western Civilization, Western Tradition|

Advocates of the liberal arts include “heretical” books in the great conversation, whereas political liberals seek to silence them as dangerous. As we have seen in Nazi Germany and in communist countries, the banning of “heretical” books ends with the burning of “heretics.” Several years ago, I visited the two-room shack in Tupelo, Mississippi, in [...]

G.K. Chesterton’s “What’s Wrong With the World”

By |2019-04-18T11:17:36-05:00August 8th, 2018|Categories: Civilization, Culture, England, G.K. Chesterton, Politics|

The next time someone tells you that reactionaries and other assorted defenders of the family and private property do not care about the poor, invite them to read G.K. Chesterton’s final words in What’s Wrong with the World… A man of great good cheer, G. K. Chesterton was well known for his sunny disposition and [...]

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