May 2025

Number 353
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Letters

Letters

Two delightful essays in the March issue, by Nikolas Prassas (“Large Language Poetry,” March 2025) and Gary…

Essays

The Right Has Forgotten Feeling

Freya India

I'm not sure how I got here, into these pages. Lately I’ve found myself in a lot…

Feminism Against Fertility

Darel E. Paul

When Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, the boys crowed and the girls cried. At least…

How to Commemorate 1776

Walter A. McDougall

Next year is America’s 250th anniversary, and President Trump has promised us a “spectacular birthday party.” The…

Why Homeschool?

Brian Patrick Eha

My father used to quiz us at the kitchen table, my older brother and me, during dinner.…

Opinion

How Abortion Lost Its Cool

Carmel Richardson

Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential election victory shocked many. The deplorables won the day, the elites were disgraced,…

The Love Society and Its Enemies

R. R. Reno

Written by Karl Popper after he fled Austria in the late 1930s, The Open Society and Its…

How I Kicked My Phone Habit

Clement Harrold

About eighteen months ago, I decided I wanted a healthier relationship with my smartphone. My phone had…

Pure Episcopalianism

Joshua T. Katz

It was in June 2022 that my wife and I started looking for a home in Washington,…

Battle for Young Minds 

Liel Leibovitz

If you happened to tune in to America’s most popular podcasts these last few months, you might’ve…

Leave Joy Alone

Ephraim Radner

C S. Lewis has never been my favorite Christian writer. I admit this sheepishly, given his stature.…

America’s New Grand Strategy

R. R. Reno

After the Cold War, the United States could imagine that its military was all-­powerful. America seemed capable…

While We’re At It May 2025

R. R. Reno

H. Richard Niebuhr taught at Yale Divinity School for many decades. In 1953, he made the following…

Reviews

Song of Thanksgiving 

Richard Bratby

The Catholic Beethovenby nicholas chongoxford university, 336 pages, $99 On the cover of ­Nicholas Chong’s new book,…

Immaterial World

Stephen M. Barr

Light of the Mind, Light of the World:Illuminating Science Through Faithby spencer a. klavanskyhorse, 272 pages, $29.99…

Liberal ­Integralists

Vincent L. Strand, S.J.

The Church Against the State:On Subsidiarity and Sovereigntyby andrew willard jonesnew polity, 321 pages, $34.95 Eight years…

Endless Shuffle

Dominic Green

Mood Machine:The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfectby liz pellyatria/one signal, 288 pages, $28.99…

Briefly Noted

A Grand Slam for God:A Journey from Baseball Star to Catholic Priestby Burke MasterWord on Fire, 192…

Poetry

Lift My Chin, Lord 

Jennifer Reeser

Lift my chin, Lord,Say to me,“You are not whoYou feared to be,Not Hecate, quite,With howling sound,Torch held…

Spring Twilight After Penance 

Sally Thomas

Let’s say you’ve just comeFrom confession. Late sunPours through the budding treesThat mark the brown creek washing Itself…

For an English Teacher 

Matthew Buckley Smith

You died, but it was not your words that faltered. You’d husbanded the language all your life, And when…