“Why Putin is no Hitler.” Daniel McCarthy warns against falling into wrongheaded patterns of thinking as war takes place in Europe: “Certain reflexes remain irresistible in Washington, not only among politicians but in the media, too. One of these is a tendency to see every confl … | Continue reading
It is not because I bear Harvard any ill will that I wish we could all just shut up about it already. Rather, I am concerned that our national obsession with elite colleges is making many of us miserable, while at the same time distracting us from parts of the higher education la … | Continue reading
Perhaps this, above all, is the work of nature writing: to bring the wild and the domestic together and to reveal the mystery at the heart of both. That Springer’s book consistently does this is enough to commend it as a constructive entry in this vexed genre. | Continue reading
I have Orthodox friends that find our little chapel concerning, and they are certainly right that a casual use of icons for decorative enhancement is to be avoided. Still, their chief complaint should be directed to the monks of Mount Athos who, infused with God’s flagrant genero … | Continue reading
“Wendell Berry’s Advice for a Cataclysmic Age.” In a surprisingly sympathetic essay—surprising given its appearance in the New Yorker, a publication not known for its sympathy with agrarians from rural Kentucky–Dorothy Wickenden describes a recent visit to the Berry’s and how his … | Continue reading
Think not, then, of the ubiquitous screens and hideous architecture and suburban metastasis and microwave dinners. Think rather of Eric Voegelin’s famous quip—Voegelin, who said that “no one is obliged to take part in the spiritual crisis of a society; on the contrary, everyone i … | Continue reading
Aaron Weinacht’s book is a needed corrective to the public misperception of Ayn Rand as radical capitalist. She was, first and foremost, a radical nihilist. Insofar as Rand embraced capitalism, it was secondary to her axiomatic nihilism embodied best in John Galt. | Continue reading
At a time when ideologies and slogans often pull us away from the difficult task of finding realistic solutions and building a world together, the approach of these authors reveals the necessity of digging deep to confront the facts as they are and recognizing the complexity of c … | Continue reading
If there is to be the equivalent of a Reagan following President Biden, he or she will face a more difficult task than the one leaders faced in 1980. Reagan only had to deal with the political ghost of Nixon, but a candidate in 2024 will have to deal with a flesh and blood Trump … | Continue reading
“Big Business Games the Supply Chain” Rose Adams describes how companies like Amazon and Walmart are better positioned to profit from supply chain snarls while small businesses struggle acutely. Yet these small businesses play a critical role in the economic and cultural life of … | Continue reading
We cannot sustain the rhetoric of conservation and sustainability if our society remains fixated on ideas of economic and technological progress. We cannot become a people who cherish the land and seas if we continue to expect an unsustainable degree of material affluence. | Continue reading
Attunement, attachment, engagement, and identification are all absolutely necessary for properly considering artworks of all kinds. However, I struggle to identify the application of Felski's argument. Perhaps it is because, as a high school teacher in a classical school, I feel … | Continue reading
A decent society must be characterized by individuals who reject designations of class guilt and innocence, who are capable of seeing the image of God in the face of the other, and who are willing to forgive. The alternative is the will-to-power that, in practical terms, becomes … | Continue reading
With this love and materiality, these two films express the pure reality to which their protagonists are so devoted. In a world of frictionless unreality, endless abstractions, and tepid and timid loves, these films impress upon us resistance, difficulty, attachment, and the dire … | Continue reading
“‘Aw, Partners, It’s Been a Bitch.’ A Letter from Ken Kesey After His Son’s Death.” Ken Kesey’s letter to Wendell Berry and other mutual friends describing the death and burial of his son is heartbreaking. “Can You Go Home Again?” Bill Kauffman meditates on Gracy Olmstead’s Uproo … | Continue reading
While some are admittedly pleasing, NFTs will not be the great decentralizing force many of us long for. Instead, their rapid profusion creates speculative bubbles and too often rewards unvirtuous swindlers while harming the environment. | Continue reading
A Good Party, Tara Isabella Burton suggests, is “a place where bonds of friendship, fostered in a spirit of both charity and joy, serve as the building blocks for communal life overall.” With 52 contributors filling almost 500 pages, we’re speaking of something close to a block p … | Continue reading
Father Harrison Ayre is one of the co-hosts of the podcast Clerically Speaking. I definitely recommend it as it is a favorite of mine. Father Harrion’s new book is Mysterion: The Revelatory Power of The Sacramental Worldview. We discuss the idea of sacramentality, the dangers of … | Continue reading
To whatever extent I imposed a narrative on experience, it was only because experience first imposed it upon me. | Continue reading
Sinha’s writing should appeal to multiple audiences, from those disillusioned with modern urbanity to young mothers to thoughtful people concerned with the persistent presence of evil in our times. The City Mother has that rare quality of providing an immersive narrative experien … | Continue reading
“The Migration of the Holy.” Paul Kingsnorth weighs England’s purported secular culture and finds it wanting. As he argues, “everything is religious,” and when we turn from a transcendent God, we manufacture various idols to replace this loss. “No, America is Not on the Brink of … | Continue reading
Beneath these critiques of the American medical system and the biological mysteries of the human body throbs a more existential question: How does one deal with suffering? These are some of the most moving parts of Douthat’s book. He finds himself literally prostrate before the a … | Continue reading
Douthat continues to discover remedies for his condition, but his experience has produced a book in which the natural world confronts us with suffering’s source and signifies the possibility of redemption. The Deep Places elucidates creation’s shadow side, the abyss of suffering … | Continue reading
Douthat is, I think, proposing a conversation. As a low-level functionary in the medical-industrial complex, I would like to take him up on that offer. There may be much to learn from sharing our stories. Whether others will join us is more than I can promise. | Continue reading
“Can Our Campuses Be Reasonable?” Zena Hitz praises Jonathan Marks’s Let’s Be Reasonable: A Conservative Case for Liberal Education, but she calls for a higher ideal than mere reasonableness: “The real engine of human development is aspiration. We need positive ideals that stir t … | Continue reading
The Revolutionary Spirit promises—especially to the disaffected in extreme situations—a false hope in burning the status quo to the ground. It promises a new world order. It promises a reset. The Revolutionary Spirit inhabits the Left and the Right, but it must be resisted if we … | Continue reading
By acquiring sufficient acreage, typically a minimum of 500 acres, ideas can be given the isolation they need to have a chance at succeeding, unmolested by the outside forces of the world. Coupled with the beauty of the land and the built environment, the “castle,” a true local c … | Continue reading
It would be nice if Somin would see migration (national and international) as a remedy for intolerable situations, a lesser evil, not a desirable thing in itself. Those who aren’t oppressed or impoverished but are tempted to leave their ancestral homes through ambition or restles … | Continue reading
Human stories, centered around human persons in pursuit of wisdom, are the roots from which communities grow. We can be sure, by the sweat on the brows of each person in the McGinley family, that this connection between the land and community is no mere metaphor. | Continue reading
“The Trees at the Heart of Creation.” Andrew Peterson and Tim Mackie (from the Bible Project) talk about the role of trees in the biblical narrative and the implications we should draw from this for how we interact with and care for trees. “The Reactionary Trap.” Seth Moskowitz o … | Continue reading
If such substitution and exchange were genuinely possible, would we agree with Lewis that no gift was more gladly given? Would we too readily assume we could bear another’s burden and so sink ourselves under more than we could carry? Or, would our burdens be lightened by such sha … | Continue reading
I give two cheers for Mark Clavier’s timely and eternal reminder to us that we should seek the encounter with God in the world; it may just give us a better appreciation and explanation for the Love that governs our world. | Continue reading
This episode’s guest is the author of the new book Swan Songs: Souvenirs of Paris Elegance. He writes under the pseudonym of Reginald-Jerome de Mans. In the book, he chronicles the end of old Parisian clothing institutions: shops and clothiers that sold luxurious wares for a cent … | Continue reading
The spring issue of Local Culture is shaping up to be a good one. When we launched this print journal in 2019, we weren’t sure how many people would want to subscribe or whether we’d be able to publish a high quality journal twice a year. FPR is, after all, a decidedly amateur (i … | Continue reading
Sterling, KS. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s eighth novel, Klara and the Sun (2021), the humans believe in science. The titular character, however, believes in the Sun. Klara is a solar-powered robot whose purpose is to be an Artificial Friend (AF) to a teenager, and as she waits anxiously … | Continue reading
“My Pandemic Book Club Changed the Way I Think about Literature — and Community.” Christopher Frizzelle writes about the goods that came from a Zoom-based book group he’s been leading. I tend to see such digitally-mediated communities as “tinned fruit” goods, but his description … | Continue reading
It’s hard to escape from beauty if you’re ready to observe the biotic activity and geologic history of the world. Beauty is essential, and I’m saying that, even with the desecration of the ecosphere going on right now, it’s still there. | Continue reading
A final benefit of the liturgical lifestyle is its uniting force. Liturgical and sanctoral calendars vary among Christian confessions, echoing more divisive pieties and doctrines. But when the things Christians have in common include commoner things—walks and bonfires, buns and r … | Continue reading
Fran Liebowitz suggests that “a book isn’t supposed to be a mirror, it’s supposed to be a door.” Universities are the same. They are not meant to simply reflect the times and trends. They are intended to open doors to existing knowledge and doors to a reimagined future. | Continue reading
“I Practise Philosophy as Art.” Gesine Borcherdt talks with philosopher Byung-Chul Han about his recent book: “I think trust is a social practice, and today it is being replaced by transparency and information. Trust enables us to build positive relationships with others, despite … | Continue reading
The only thing that can save the world from a lost Christianity is a Cross-centered Christianity. Can Christians take the truths from both Life Is A Miracle and Sophia In Exile to not only reclaim our farms and our science, but to soften our hardened hearts towards the real, livi … | Continue reading
In the balance, Hayhoe’s book makes a positive contribution to the climate conversation. The book encourages dialogue rather than hectoring. In that sense, though the targeted topic is climate change, Hayhoe’s advice is good for any sort of persuasive argument. | Continue reading
Frank Mulder is preaching the same Gospel. Pictures of Frank Mulder make him look like he could be a modern-day Johnny Appleseed, on a bicycle, planting sycamores instead of apple trees, helping people, one by one, break free from the threefold madness of money, planning, and cro … | Continue reading
“Fare Forward Interview with Jack Shoemaker.” I somehow missed this fascinating conversation between Fare Forward and Jack Shoemaker that came out this past summer. They discuss correspondence and literary friendships, and Shoemaker talks a bit about Berry’s new book: “Wendell an … | Continue reading
My least-favorite bumper sticker of all time reads, "If you're not outraged you're not paying attention." As a remedy for this sort of dopamine-fueled attitude, the author suggests that we refuse to bow to the media outrage machine. | Continue reading
Here are three novels about three places in the world. Each conveys not just a perfunctory setting but a web of topography, livelihoods, pastimes, and lore. And in each the experience of arriving at that place endures in memory and self-understanding. | Continue reading
Holding up a sign, sitting at a lunch counter, sticking a flower in a gun, setting up a tent, and occupying a space in the face state and corporate power is an act of utopian belief and faith. A belief, to go back to Berry's insight above, that something may not be--and should no … | Continue reading
Belfast is a lovely movie for remembering the power that places have in defining who we are and the beauty of belonging well, even to a broken place. | Continue reading