A stupid party
On the triumph of Left Eclecticism in contemporary academic life and the intellectual conformity which it engenders.
Prizes for everyone
On the Dodo's approach to recognizing-or not-those students who excel in the Tennessee school system.
Strong stomach dept.
On the stomach turning effects of a Portrait of Jacques Derrida as a Young Jewish Saint from Columbia University Press.
Religion in America: ancient & modern
by David B. Hart
On the distinctive state of religion in America. The seventh of our series “Lengthened shadows: America and Its Institutions in the Twenty-first Century.”
Furst among equals
by Brooke Allen
On the American novelist Alan Furst, a first-rate genre writer with a penchant for romanticism.
Reflections on the black cap
by Anthony Daniels
On Scott Turow’s attempt to tackle the subject of capital punishment in his new book, Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer’s Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty.
The voice impersonator
by Eric Ormsby
On the success of Poems and Translations, edited by Richard Sieburth, in revealing the polyphonic development of Ezra Pound’s works.
Gay old times
by Mark Steyn
Paul Rudnick meditates on the gay aesthetic in Valhalla while Will Eno’s The Flu Season & Anne Washburn’s The Ladies battle for the crown of self-absorption.
Stromanizing
by Laura Jacobs
On Susan Stroman’s new full-length ballet for the New York City Ballet.
Sea changes
by Karen Wilkin
On “Manet and the Sea” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which successfully brings together a widely separated collection of Manet paintings with a common theme.
Exhibition note
by James Panero
James Panero on “A Beautiful and Gracious Manner: The Art of Parmigianino,” at The Frick Collection, New York.
New York chronicle
by Jay Nordlinger
On Roberto Alagna, Juan Diego Florez, Frank Lapardo, Plácido Domingo, & Boris Godunov at the New York Metropolitan Opera House, the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at Avery Fisher Hall & a five-day festival at Carnegie Hall sponsored by the Marilyn Horne Foundation.
Bad faith, common currency
by James Bowman
On the mendacious accusations of the media & the rigorous scrutiny to which they should be held.
Norman Podhoretz & the nature of things
by William McGurn
A review of The Norman Podhoretz Reader: A Selection of His Writings from the 1950’s Through the 1990’s, by Norman Podhoretz, edited by Thomas L. Jeffers.
Insolent humanism
by Ben Downing
A review of James Knox, by Robert Byron.
Darwinizing politics
by Paul Gross
A review of Darwinian Politics: The Evolutionary Origin of Freedom, by Paul H. Rubin.
The quiet German?
by Tess Lewis
A review of A Sad Affair, translated by Michael Hoffman.