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American Pilgrimage

Stefan McDaniel

We began just after daybreak. One by one, the brigades filed out of the parking lot, each singing a different hymn. Turning away from the water, the lengthening line...

Catholic America

Stefan McDaniel

Continental Ambitions: Roman Catholics in North Americaby kevin starrignatius, 675 pages, $34.95 In The Good Shepherd, the 2006 spy film, mobster Joseph Palmi asks CIA agent (and stereotypical WASP)...

Gaul Divided

Stefan McDaniel

The January 7, 2015 terrorist attacks provoked the largest demonstrations in France since the liberation of Paris. The impressive spectacle of many thousands calling themselves “Charlie” suggests that the...

Sunset

Stefan McDaniel

sunset across bare hills lights the treetops on the far side of the road

American Cicero by Bradley J. Birzer

Stefan McDaniel

American Cicero: The Life of Charles Carroll by bradley j. birzer isi, 230 pages, $25 Bradley Birzer’s new book, American Cicero: The Life of Charles Carroll, suggests that Hillsdale...

Review of The Devil Reads Derrida

Stefan McDaniel

The Devil Reads Derrida: And Other Essays on the University, the Church, Politics, and the Arts by James K.A. Smith Eerdmans, 160 pages, $18 n Some may dismiss James...

Review of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties

Stefan McDaniel

The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties by Jonathan Leaf Regnery, 247 pages, $19.95 n “What a shrill, pointless decade,” said The Simpson’ s fictional news anchor Kent Brockman...

Reverence for Words: A Case Against Blogging

Stefan McDaniel

Someone recently encouraged me to write more, because “words aren’t lifeblood. Words are cheap.” Words are certainly held cheap, and the blogosphere has drastically lowered the going rate. This...

Re: First Thoughts on Caritas in Veritate, #6

Stefan McDaniel

Unlike Joseph , I think social conservatism and economic leftism (if “leftism” means willingness to significantly restrict trade) are very easy to reconcile on the level of philosophy and,...

Polite Showdown at National Press Club

Stefan McDaniel

“Real disagreement is a rare achievement, because so much of what passes for disagreement is really just confusion.” So said moderator Mary Ann Glendon (quoting John Courtney Murray) at...

Re: Against Abortion, Not Just Abortion Rights

Stefan McDaniel

You make some good points , Nick, but I still support the current journalistic usage of describing pro-lifers as “opponents of abortion rights.” Of course, it is probably true...

Real Neo-Paganism?

Stefan McDaniel

A friend sent me this piece by Alain de Botton celebrating pessimism, describing it as “your kind of article.” Leaving aside what this is meant to imply about me,...

Ground Rules for Civil Discourse

Stefan McDaniel

Diogenes proposes an apt analogy : I see nothing wrong with swatting flies. Let’s say that you have a different opinion. You think the lives of flies are sacred,...

A Divided Will

Stefan McDaniel

It’s a very odd thing (and many have remarked on its oddness) that in America today “conservatism” suggests both support for families and hostility to the claims of community,...

Schumer Speaks at Fordham Commencement

Stefan McDaniel

In her open letter declining the Laetare Medal, Prof. Mary Ann Glendon worried that Notre Dame’s decision to honor a strongly pro-abortion public figure would create a “trickle-down” effect...