First Links—5.18.15

Notes on the Surrender at Menlo Park
John Herrman, The Awl

You Get What You Pay For
Aaron MacLean, Washington Free Beacon

The Real But Overstated Decline of American Christianity
Ross Douthat, The New York Times

Pope Francis Canonizes Two 19th-Century Palestinian Nuns
Francis X. Rocca and Joshua Mitnick, The Wall Street Journal

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The Dreadful Christ of Pär Lagerkvist

Peter J. Leithart

It’s dangerous to meet a god,” says the disgraced Pythia in Pär Lagerkvist’s The Sibyl. Her observation…

The Possibility of Possibility

Midge Goldberg

"Might could” is a Southern expression meaning “maybe I could” or “I might be able to,” conveying…

The False Promise of No Contact

Noelle Mering

Around the time nineteen-year-old Alice began cutting ties with her family, she announced on social media that…