American Politics
A selection of recent articles on this topic
Age and Wisdom
I recently saw an older friend who has suffered from some health problems. I asked him how…
Treating Democracy
The Responsibility of Reason: Theory and Practice in a Liberal-Democratic Age by Ralph C. Hancock Rowman and…
A Generation Detached
Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood by Christian Smith, with Kari Christoffersen, Hilary Davidson,…
After Establishment
For a long time Irish politics and culture have been married to Catholicism. Now we seem to…
Scientia ad Absurdum
The Atheist’s Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life without Illusions by Alex Rosenberg W. W. Norton, 368 pages,…
Changing Minds, Saving Lives
The propagandist hopes you will not think too carefully, the persuader asks you to consider. Persuasion changes…
Against Stupidity
I have been thinking a lot about stupidity lately, largely, I suppose, because I spend a good…
The Dignifying Family
Those who lost their rights but kept their dignity, as John Paul II and the Polish people…
Germanizing Protestantism
Founding the Fathers: ? Early Church History and Protestant Professors in Nineteenth-Century America by Elizabeth Clark University…
Evangelicals Today
Evangelicalism is a mode of being Christian, more missionary movement than official church. As a result, the…
Aphorisms & Epigrams
Summer’s on its way out, and the first browning leaves of the sycamores here in Manhattan fill…
Notes from the Editor’s Desk
Many flee New York during the hot month of August, but not at First Things . On…
On Hesperus at Confession
When Hesperus was making his confession / of sins, according to the sacred rite...
Taxing Boredom
The Pale King by David foster Wallace Little, Brown, 548 pages, $27.99 n It’s not often that…
Greenblatt’s Curious Omission
In the Middle Ages,” said a candidate for a position in medieval literature at my college, “beauty…
