The barely-populated area of the Great Plains where the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is located is beautiful and peaceful—thus adding, in some strange, ironic, and disturbing way, to the surrealism of weapons designed there to end the world as we know it. We got up early, and we drove nearly two hours to see [...]
May God bless the librarians of the world. Unrecognized as such, they are the keepers and preserves of culture, and of our sanctuary islands in the maelstrom of turbulent modernity. My earliest memory of entering a library was sometime during my first few days at Wiley Elementary School in Hutchinson, Kansas. It was the fall [...]
A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye, when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and [...]
As far back as I can remember, I’ve been taken with the human person—the ideal, the reality, the individuality. Not unnaturally, I first remember being in awe of my mom and my two older brothers. They seemed to do everything so well, and I admired each for his (or her) talents and grace. But, then, [...]
Deeply rooted in the humane traditions of Western civilization, science fiction, poetry, and mythology allow us to explore that most fascinating of subjects: the human person. Rather famously, J.R.R. Tolkien once asked Lewis, rhetorically, “What class of men would you expect to be most preoccupied with, and most hostile to, the idea of escape?” The [...]
Russell Kirk’s "Roots of American Order" rightly deserves its place as a conservative masterpiece. It is an ethical and moral history of Western civilization as it nurtured, shaped, and delimited American political culture. Written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Russell Kirk’s magisterial The Roots of American Order [...]
For many in the American colonies, it was an open question: Should you favor independence, are you also willing to surrender your lives, your honor, and your sacred fortunes? One of my greatest duties at Hillsdale College is teaching an upper-level course entitled Founding of the American Republic. My colleague, David Raney, and I share [...]
Russell Kirk wrote of the Constitution often, singing its praises as coming directly from the experience of a people. It was not written for any other, as it came into existence in a specific time and a specific place. To Kirk, the Constitution was a practical document, not an ideological or abstract one. Throughout his [...]
Why exactly did Thomas Jefferson and Congress change John Locke’s famous declaration in favor of life, liberty, and property, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Some, wrongly, have believed this to be a Jeffersonian attack on the notion of property. But, as Forrest and Ellen McDonald assure us in their own profound writings [...]
With the Ukraine crisis, Americans have a moment to reflect on our obligations to the rest of the world. Just how far are we willing to go to protest Russia’s invasion? Are we content with extremely tight economic sanctions, or are we willing to flex the muscles a bit more? “War. What is it good [...]
In a Platonic sense, the Inklings might very well have brought about an "anamnesis," a remembering of what had been lost, but they might also very well have been simply preservers of timeless wisdom for many ages to come, so far into the future that they seem unimaginable. A number of things can be stated [...]
Would it be possible, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis wondered in the 1930s, to write fiction that might combine: a love of history; a desire to debate the defenders of the modern world and point out the many foibles of modern living; and a way to promote one’s philosophical and religious beliefs without being overly [...]
I’m fascinated by time—its past, its present, its future, its moments, its transcendences. Time, as we’ve all experienced, moves quickly at points, and agonizingly slow at other points. There is something quite mystical about the nature of time and something truly mystical in the relationship of time to eternity. A few months ago, the history [...]
For Irving Babbitt, a saving remnant of those who possess a humane understanding of the West and its great men and great ideas existed—one that could counter the nationalists and internationalists and those promoting either leviathan or the superman. In the 1910s, one of America’s greatest humanists, Irving Babbitt (1865-1933), surprisingly decided to dive into [...]