In his ideas regarding American foreign policy, James Monroe echoed both Washington and Jefferson, yet he had to worry about things neither of them did—in particular, European involvement in the affairs of the republics of the Western Hemisphere. His policy needed to follow the diplomatic thought of the previous administrations while also adapting to quickly [...]
The whole theological thought of the Middle Ages was dominated by St. Augustine, especially by the positions taken by Augustine in opposition to Pelagius. And in this the Middle Ages were purely and simply Catholic and Christian. For mediaeval thought (and in this it only showed that it was Christian), man was not simply an [...]
After the triumph of Marxist Communism in 1917, the style of the persecution of Catholicism in Mexico gradually altered as the country's rulers adopted the methods employed by Moscow. On the other side of the world, in Mexico, the Church suffered an ordeal similar to that of Christianity in Russia. The Land of the Plumed [...]
Eager for legitimacy and filled with the lessons of history, Napoleon Bonaparte knew that the title of Emperor that he had just assumed would not be irrevocable in the eyes of his subjects until he had become “the Lord’s Anointed,” like the kings of France. Events since the Concordat had unrolled an endless carpet of [...]
The “Aeneid” was only possible because the Roman people had the memory and consciousness to make it possible. It is up to us to ensure that its living well of memory doesn’t dry up. Without it, the “Aeneid” will pass into the dustbin of history like the corpses of Priam and Pompey. The grandest image [...]
None of the pieces in this collection are excerpts from David McCullough's many books. And none are culled from anything that might have been on its way to becoming an autobiography. They are simply essays, talks, and musings offered by David McCullough the writer, the student, the artist, and the reader. History Matters, by David [...]
In the end, we want D.B. Cooper's true identity to remain a mystery. We want him to continue to "get away with it"—such a brave, courteous, refined outlaw from a simpler era deserves better than to be caught by us postmoderns. On the evening of November 24, 1971—the day before Thanksgiving—a dark-haired man dressed in [...]
Netflix’s Death by Lightning dramatizes the brief but important presidency of James Garfield. Outlined in Candace Millard’s 2011 book, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, this fine, but flawed production charts Garfield’s unexpected rise to the White House and the tragedy of his assassination by the [...]
The Articles of Confederation were doomed by their perceived structural weakness. Yet defenders of the Articles at the time correctly pointed out that this early constitution, drafted under intense pressure at a critical time in the country’s history and intended to deal foremost with the exigencies of war, had been remarkably successful. The Declaration of [...]
Saint Augustine was the first Christian to offer a comprehensive Philosophy of History, which the Russian Orthodox writer Nicholas Berdyaev called nothing short of “ingenious.”[1] One of his greatest accomplishments was the sanctification of Plato’s understanding of the two realms: the perfect Celestial Kingdom and the corrupt copy. One finds this tension and conflict between [...]
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 year 1989 may well be seen by future historians as one of those rare pivotal years of this past millennium—like 1066, 1492, 1793, and 1914—that profoundly altered the direction of Western Civilization. It is, of course, still too early to say for certain that we as a society set ourselves on a dangerous collision [...]
We of this generation give too much time to news about the transient present, too little to the living past. We are choked with news, and starved of history. But how, without history, can we understand these events? “History” said Henry Ford, “is bunk.” As one who has written history for twenty-five years, and studied [...]
So who was this John C. Calhoun, someone who has so many sticky burrs attached to his reputation? And why turn our attention to him in this year of 2025? I. Constitutional Federalism Is a system whereby a written constitution divides and shares powers between a General Government and constituent state governments with each having [...]