Dan Hitchens portrait
Dan Hitchens

Leo XIV and the Best-Case Scenario

The philosopher Michael Oakeshott, the leading conservative thinker of his generation, regarded politics with distaste; he voted for…
Liel Leibovitz

Battle for Young Minds 

If you happened to tune in to America’s most popular podcasts these last few months, you might’ve heard…
Carl R. Trueman

Rebel Against the Cult of the Expert

For me, the end of the academic year is always bittersweet. The sweetness comes from seeing students cross…
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America’s New Grand Strategy

R. R. Reno
After the Cold War, the United States could imagine that its military was all-­powerful. America seemed capable of taking decisive action anywhere in the world. This awesome war-making potential…

How I Kicked My Phone Habit

Clement Harrold

About eighteen months ago, I decided I wanted a healthier relationship with my smartphone. My phone had…

An Evangelical in Italy

Larry Smith

How does an evangelical—not joined with the Church in Rome, but committed to one holy, catholic, and…

Classical Renewal by Research

James Hankins

The research pursued these days in university humanities departments does not, as a rule, enjoy high esteem…

How Obergefell Failed

Matthew Schmitz

On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, announcing a…

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PODCASTS More Podcasts

The First Things Podcast

Pius vs. Innocent

While waiting for news from the real-life conclave, the editors re-watch the 2024 feature film Conclave and the 2017 HBO series The Young Pope. Then they air their hopes…

Conversations

The Persistence of Ideology

The latest installment of an ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein. Daniel J. Mahoney joins in to discuss his recent book, The Persistence of the Ideological Lie: The…

The Editor’s Desk

Women Without Men!

In this episode, Darel E. Paul joins Rusty Reno on The Editor’s Desk to talk about his recent essay, “Feminism Against Fertility” from the May 2025 issue of the magazine….
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On the Square MORE ON THE SQUARE

New York Deserves Better than State-Sanctioned Suicide

Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan
Over the past two weeks, the world has witnessed a tremendous outpouring of love for Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday, April 21. His last public appearance was…

Converting Beauty into Prayer

Claire Giuntini

A few weeks ago, I went to an Easter concert put on by a new nonprofit called…

Letters from Rome 2025—A New Pontificate

Xavier Rynne II

One of the numerous pathologies infecting today’s communications ecosystem is Instant Analysis Syndrome, which has been raging…

What Hollywood Can Learn from the Success of King of Kings

Timothy Reckart

Here in Hollywood, the big story of the Easter season has been the outsized success of Angel…

In the Twinkling of an Eye

John Wilson

We know that our lives can change suddenly, “in the twinkling of an eye,” a truth that…

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Essays MORE ESSAYS

Francis in Full

Robert Barron

By common consensus, Jorge ­Mario Cardinal Bergoglio won the papacy by means of an intervention he made…

Saving Christian Europe

Éric Zemmour

Christianity made Europe,” Georges Bernanos writes in The Great Cemeteries Under the Moon. “Christianity is dead. Europe…

The Future of Reading

Wessie du Toit

More is read now in a year than was read before in a hundred years.” So declared…

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Reviews MORE REVIEWS

Jesus After the Critics

Michael C. Legaspi

Miracles and Wonder:The Historical Mystery of Jesusby elaine pagelsdoubleday, 336 pages, $30 Quests for the “historical Jesus”…

Why Twain Endures

Mark Bauerlein

Mark Twainby ron chernowpenguin, 1,200 pages, $45 When the ­Civil War broke out in 1861, Sam ­Clemens…

Creating U.S. Catholicism

Gerard V. Bradley

The World and Work of Father John J. Burke:A Mystic in Actionby douglas j. slawsonst. augustine’s, 600…

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Poetry More Poetry

Greetings on a Morning Walk 

Paul Willis

Blackberry vines,  you hold this ground in the shade of a willow: all thorns, no fruit. *…

An Outline of Trees 

James Matthew Wilson

They rise above us, arching, spreading, thin Where trunk and bough give way to veining twig. We…

Fallacy 

J.C. Scharl

A shadow cast by something invisible  falls on the white cover of a book  lying on my…

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