During 2011, First Things published over 200 articles in our print edition that were available on our website. The following were the top ten most read:
1. The Trouble with Ayn Rand , David Bentley Hart
Civilization teeters on the brink: they’ve made a movie of Atlas Shrugged.
2. The Truth About Greenhouse Gases , William Happer
The dubious science of the climate crusaders.
3. The Moral Economy of Guilt , Wilfred M. McClay
The curious process by which notions of sin and guilt have become both illusory and omnipresent.
4. Thinking About Aging , Gilbert Meilaender
It is right to want to live longer, if we don’t want life simply for its own sake.
5. The Preferential Option for the Poor , R.R. Reno
The Public Square
6. The Enduring Irving Kristol , Wilfred M. McClay
The skeptical yet hopeful father of neoconservatism.
7. The End of the Bernardin Era , George Weigel
The rise, dominance, and decline of a culturally accommodating Catholicism.
8. Restoring The Words , Anthony Esolen
The new translation of the Mass restores its beauty and splendor.
9. Evangelicals Divided , Gerald McDermott
The battle between Meliorists and Traditionists to define evangelicalism.
10. Fig Leaves and Falsehoods , Janet E. Smith
Pace Thomas Aquinas, sometimes we need to deceive.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
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If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
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