“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves,” wrote Abraham Lincoln. Is there any American of sound mind who would not endorse this statement? Yet things having to do with freedom are not always so clear. The crucial case of religious freedom, celebrated by Pope John Paul II . . . . Continue Reading »
The novelist and critic Mary McCarthy, who died in 1989, was up to the time of her death working on a memoir of her life in the late 1930s, in effect a sequel to her two previous autobiographical works, Memoirs of a Catholic Girlhood and How I Grew. Perhaps she meant by the end . . . . Continue Reading »
Some will protest that the question posed by that title is outrageously wrongheaded. To ask what we should do about the poor, they say, smacks of paternalism and noblesse oblige, reflecting a hierarchical mentality in which, the world is divided between “us” and “them.” Rather, they would . . . . Continue Reading »
Small-town America maintains its grip on . . . . Continue Reading »
Tugged out of bed by a dream,he enters the world, confrontscats stalking the hallway,aghast at this early walker.The moon, almost full, glowson the crust of old snow. Back in the bedroom, his wifedreams in a world that is histo return to. Perhaps.But for now he’s hereby the window, . . . . Continue Reading »
The Evils of Capitalism While I agree with some of Peter Berger’s observations in“Capitalism: The Continuing Revolution” (August/September), I disagree profoundly with his model, several key assumptions, and his conclusion. First, the model. One of the reasons that economists tend to disagree . . . . Continue Reading »
Chapter and Verse: A Skeptic Revisits Christianityby mike bryanrandom house, 324 pages, $22 Mike Bryan is an atheist, raised a Methodist, who wanted to write a book about “Christians who actually believe the Bible versus all the other kinds.” So he spent time in residence at Criswell College in . . . . Continue Reading »
The Urban Underclassedited by christopher jencks and paul e. petersonbrookings institution publications, 490 pages, $34.95 Inner-City Poverty in the United Statesedited by lawrence e. lynn, jr. and michael h. mcgearynational academy press, 280 pages, $29.95 The presence of entrenched poverty and . . . . Continue Reading »
The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in the History of Ideasby Isaiah BerlinAlfred A. Knopf, 277 pages, $22 Henry Hardy, the editor of this hook, describes it as “in effect the fifth of four volumes” of Isaiah Berlin’s collected essays. Like one of its predecessor volumes (Against the . . . . Continue Reading »
First, a confessional note. Like many other Americans, I originally became aware of Ronald Reagan as a political figure during the Barry Goldwater presidential campaign of 1964. Reagan’s nationally televised speech near the end of the campaign was a cautionary moment. (Reagan had previously been . . . . Continue Reading »
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