Richard John Neuhaus

The Really Poor There is a very big and very important argument underway about what is to be done, if anything can be done, about the really poor of the world. An admirably lucid and informed contribution to the argument is Paul Collier’s The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are . . . . Continue Reading »

It’s an odd thing about us transplanted Canadians. In truth, most of my siblings and I (there are eight children) were born in Canada of American citizens, which gives us dual citizenship. The odd thing is that we are among the relatively few Americans who regularly keep an eye on things . . . . Continue Reading »

The English language is so very rich, and not least when it comes to language about language. I confess to having a weakness for the aphorism. I like to quote them and have even tried my hand at a few. A friend tells me I mean epigram, not aphorism. Maybe so, but the distinctions are subtle. It . . . . Continue Reading »

On July 31, I posted here " A Respectful Word on Episcopal Competence ." Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando, Florida, who is head of the bishops’ Committee on International Policy, then offered an equally respectful response on August 7. In his response, he underscored what he described . . . . Continue Reading »

The word competence has several meanings, most of which congregate around ability and authority . It is not clear which meaning is pertinent to the announcement that the national bishops’ conference will be meeting with congressional Democrats who are Catholics in order to devise a way to . . . . Continue Reading »

In the October issue of First Things (which hits newsstands today), I draw attention to the powerfully persuasive new book by Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Oxford). One billion of the world’s population are rich; four . . . . Continue Reading »

We are all uncertain about what God wants us to do. That is to say, we do not know for sure . Of course it seems silly, when you’re well past middle age and have spent your life doing what you believe you’ve been given to do, to get up in the morning or suddenly stop in the middle of the . . . . Continue Reading »

I have mentioned before Clive James’ book of mini-essays on intellectuals of the last hundred years, Cultural Amnesia . He really does not like Jean-Paul Sartre, who was lionized by so many for so long. James blames Sartre’s prewar period in Berlin, and especially the influence of . . . . Continue Reading »

Our friends over at the New Criterion have put out a big anthology including the editors’ choice of essays and reviews published in its first twenty-five years. The book is Counterpoints and is edited by, as you might expect, the editors of the New Criterion , Roger Kimball and Hilton Kramer. . . . . Continue Reading »

This is one strange book. Strange and frequently wonderful. Weighing in at 852 pages, nobody is going to read Clive James’ Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts at one sitting. James is an Australian-born British literary critic and television personality now edging up . . . . Continue Reading »