The state despotic
by Mark Steyn
On our gradual slide into servitude.
The permanent transient
by Joseph Epstein
Santayana in his letters.
Cheerfulness breaks in
by Pat Rogers
On two new biographies of the incomparable Dr. Johnson.
A Raphael “Madonna” restored
by Marco Grassi
On the restoration of the Madonna del Cardellino at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.
Marriage in our time
by Kenneth Minogue
On matrimony in a culture of convenience.
Joe Turner's return
by Eric Grode
On The Death of a Salesman & Joe Turner's Come and Gone.
“Compass in Hand” at MoMA
by Karen Wilkin
On "Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection" at the Musuem of Modern Art, New York.
Exhibition note
by Leann Davis Alspaugh
On "Second Empire Paris: History and Modernity" at Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Gallery chronicle
by James Panero
On Op Art, Gabriele Evertz at Metaphor Gallery, James Little at June Kelly Gallery & Nicolas Carone at Lohin Geduld Gallery.
New York chronicle
by Jay Nordlinger
On Chanticleer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Abbey Simon, Magdalena Kožená, and Christopher Prégardien & Michael Gees at Alice Tully Hall, Ricardo Muti with the New York Philharmonic; Bernard Haitink with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, René Pape, and Pierre Boulez with the Staatskappelle Berlin at Carnegie Hall; Emmanuel Pahud, Trevor Pinnock & Jonathan Manson at Zankel Hall; Bernard Haitink with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and Barber of Seville at the Metropolitan Opera.
Let the sky fall
by James Bowman
On the new official language.
You betcha!
by William Logan
On Ballistics by Billy Collins; Selected Poems by Thom Gunn, edited by August Kleinzahler; Substrate by Jim A. Powell; The Mind-Body Problem by Katha Pollitt; Sonata Mulattica by Rita Dove; and It Is Daylight by Arda Collins.
Always in the wrong place
by Anthony Daniels
On the relics of oppression.
Crucial points
by Adam Sisman
A letter from Adam Sisman.
Crucial points: A reply
by Jeffrey Meyers
A response from Jeffrey Meyers.