Various

The Fate of Their Country: Politicians, Slavery Extension, and the Coming of the Civil War. By Michael F. Holt. Hill and Wang. 168pp. $20. This is a book that has everything going for it except its arbitrarily imposed”and quite unpersuasive”thesis. Holt, a historian at the University of . . . . Continue Reading »

Just Punishment? In “Capital Punishment: The Case for Justice” (August/September), J. Budziszewski makes a strong argument for capital punishment based on justice in accord with Scripture. However, I think that in focusing on justice and clemency rather than on signs or sacramentality he . . . . Continue Reading »

Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History 1585-1828. By Walter A. McDougall. HarperCollins. 638 pp. $29.95. In this first installment of a projected three-volume national history, Walter McDougall, whose panoramic history of the Space Age won the Pulitzer Prize, surveys the shifting . . . . Continue Reading »

The Judaism of Jesus In “ The Passion ’s Passionate Despisers” (June/July), Kenneth L. Woodward summed up his critique of the Jewish critics of the film by writing that “Jews should realize [it] is not about them.” Mr. Woodward’s conclusion is accurate, but that is precisely the problem . . . . Continue Reading »

Creative Tension: Essays on Science and Religion By Michael Heller Templeton 183 pp. $22.95 paper Michael Heller brings to his reflections on science and religion a depth of knowledge, thought, and experience that is highly unusual. He spent his early childhood in Siberia, where his family had been . . . . Continue Reading »

Personalism and Apologetics After reading Avery Cardinal Dulles’ article “The Rebirth of Apologetics” (May), one would do well to consider another approach to apologetics–one that recognizes that people can also pursue “aspirations of the human heart for communion with the divine” . . . . Continue Reading »

In Defense of Globalization. By Jagdish Bhagwati. Oxford University Press. 308 pp. $28. There are many books out there on economic globalization, but this is one to own and to keep on the shelf for frequent reference. It is solid, well organized, clearly written, and wickedly witty. As a younger . . . . Continue Reading »

In Defense of Globalization . By Jagdish Bhagwati. Oxford University Press. 308 pp. $28. There are many books out there on economic globalization, but this is one to own and to keep on the shelf for frequent reference. It is solid, well organized, clearly written, and wickedly witty. As a younger . . . . Continue Reading »

War and Statecraft Reconsidered In “War and Statecraft: An Exchange” (March), George Weigel is right to distinguish “rigorously” between bellum in its traditional sense of public war and duellum in its equally traditional sense of private war (piracy, brigandage, terroristic raids, most . . . . Continue Reading »

The Sword of the Lord: Military Chaplains from the First to the Twenty-First Century. Edited by Doris L. Bergen. University of Notre Dame Press. 312 pp. $18 paper. The military chaplaincy in the West is the subject of this compilation of essays by historians and scholar-chaplains. The office took . . . . Continue Reading »