Eustache Le Sueur, Caligula Depositing the Ashes of his Mother and Brother in the Tomb of his Ancestors, 1647/ Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015

 

Recent links of note:

Beneath Chicago’s Gloss
Aaron Renn, City Journal
Walk around downtown Chicago, the gleaming lake on one side and stunning skyscrapers on the other, and one is likely to think he stands in a city that has got it all figured out. If only that were the case. Behind Chicago’s luminous façade is a city in turmoil facing a massive budget shortfall and turning to increasingly baroque financial maneuvers to attempt to overcome the lingering issues. This week Aaron Renn explores how the city and state of Illinois have gotten the economics of the city so wrong, concluding that continual buck-passing and the abeyance of responsibility are to blame.

Monuments to Liberty
Jonathan Clark, The Times Literary Supplement
As the TLS, that formidable home for English literary criticism, said of itself, “we don’t often do scoops, and a History Editor is used to being teased that his idea of a scoop is a story about something that happened more than 200 years ago.” But this week may prove an exception to that rule, with the publication of Jonathan Clark’s findings that Thomas Paine may not have written the whole of the Rights of Man. If that is the case, does our understanding of the French Revolution change? Head over to the TLS to find out.

Jeremy Corbyn isn’t like Caligula’s horse—he’s like Caligula
Tom Holland, The Spectator
As mentioned last week, we’re still trying to sort out what exactly happened in England to occasion the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of Her Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition. But historical parallels sometimes help to illuminate our current age and in that vein, Tom Holland thinks there’s much to be learned about Mr. Corbyn through the study of mad Caligula. One choice example is Caligula’s original version of Corbyn’s “people’s quantitative easing”—standing on a basilica rooftop showering the people below with coins. As Holland sagely puts it, “Truly, talk of a new politics is one of the oldest things under the sun.”

In Belgium, Mayonnaise Makers Want a New Recipe
Tom Fairless, The Wall Street Journal
Is there nothing sacred? Apparently in Belgium the answer is no. Mayonnaise, which is required by Belgian law to contain at least 80% fat and 7.5% egg yolk, is under attack. In the rest of Europe, the condiment may be sold with only 70% fat and 5% yolk, making it cheaper to produce. But these continental rivals lack the tradition and quality of their Belgian counterparts. Just ask Philippe Lartique, chef at Brasseries Georges, one of Brussels’s best restaurants. To him, “It’s like comparing a chicken raised by a farmer with a factory hen.” Well said, and please, pass the frites.

From our pages:

The untold story of Reconstruction
Gene Dattel
The South is largely blamed for the failure of Reconstruction, but what of the North’s responsibility?

 

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