The last year or so has been a most propitious time for thoughtful studies of social and political life. In an age when fewer and fewer people read serious books, a gift of a weighty tome serves as a statement and challenge to one’s family and friends. Here are some gifts of permanence that may [...]
As a traditionalist, a defender of the tried and true against the new and untried, a devotee of personal restraint when faced with overriding challenges, and a defender of the inherited tradition, the present writer has been a critic of change, especially dramatic upheavals, for all of his life. However, twelve years ago he was [...]
The current revival and increased appreciation of the sacraments within “Mainline” Protestantism provides the disciples of the Reformation with a great opportunity for liturgical recovery. While a renascence has been taking place for some decades, often distracted by “political” and “liturgically correct” elements, Methodists remain in a unique position to advance their understanding and recover [...]
Strong Constitutions: Social-Cognitive Origins of the Separation of Powers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013) by Maxwell A. Cameron In this imaginative and readable book, Cameron (University of British Columbia) provides a learned defense of the separation of powers. While not disputing the importance of the separation of powers as a source of restraint in democratic theory, the [...]
We need not assume the mantle of an anti-materialist to appreciate that a certain degree of social equilibrium is dismissed or ignored during the holidays, allowing for a lack of societal and personal restraint. Many otherwise normal considerations are subsumed into the pursuit of a “happy” holiday. All too often this demands we forgo normal [...]
The Conservative Mind by Dr. Russell Kirk, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, still exerts considerable influence over the intellectual elements of American Conservatism. Dr. H. Lee Cheek delivers a lecture on this book for The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville’s “Milestones of the 20th Century: Democracy in America” lecture series. This [...]
A History of Political Ideas from Antiquity to the Middle Ages by Philippe Nemo As the first part of a two volume survey of political thought, Philippe Nemo approaches the field of study in a manner different from many American texts. Appealing to readers with “little prior knowledge” of political thought, the author provides a lucid, [...]
M.E. Bradford was was truly one of the giants of the postwar conservative intellectual movement. A Southerner first, he was naturally both an agrarian and a conservative. The late M.E. (“Mel”) Bradford (1934-1993) was truly one of the giants of the postwar conservative intellectual movement. A Texan (born in Fort Worth), Bradford earned his B.A. [...]
Tocqueville: The Aristocratic Sources of Liberty by Lucien Jaume While this profound, and elegantly written and translated work, will not appeal to all scholars of political thought, Lucien Jaume (Centre Recherche Politiques de Sciences Po) nevertheless provides many insights into the life and work of the great French student of American social and political life. Emphasizing [...]
Considering the large role he played in our nation’s past, Georgia’s Alexander Stephens deserves more than a footnote in our history. Limited by a popular and academic culture at the beginning of the 21st century that denigrates the past and places too much confidence in the present, the thoughtful student of Georgia politics and history [...]
A Review of William H. F. Altman’s Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche: The Philosopher of the Second Reich (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2013). In this imaginative and refined commentary on Nietzsche’s political thought, Altman provides an incisive critique of the achievement of Nietzsche, as well as his limitations. The work is the third volume of a trilogy on German [...]
H. Lee Cheek The Wise Men Know What Wicked Things Are Written on the Sky, by Russell Kirk Wise Men is a collection of 11 lively essays by the wise old sage who was contemporary conservatism’s most able prophet. The Kirk neophyte will find these essays most alluring; it is unusual to experience such [...]
The purpose of this essay is to elucidate the importance of Plato’s commitment to rational discourse in the Apology and Gorgias. Both dialogues chronicle the transfer of authority from the destructive world of Athens to the philosophers. The organization of politics and society, according to Plato, is determined by the orderliness of the souls of its citizens. The central [...]
Political Philosophy: A Historical Introduction by Michael J. White […]