Latest Posts

July 01, 2025

A Telltale Heart in Ukraine

There is blood seeping from under an otherwise ordinary shed door in the city. This possible sign of a crime sets in motion the plot of The Stolen Heart, Andrey Kurkov’s second installment in the delightful series of Kyiv mysteries, set nearly 100 years ago and following the low-brow exploits of a young policeman, Samson Kolechko (“The Ring”). Continue Reading...
June 27, 2025

What Is a Conservative Novel?

Christopher J. Scalia’s 13 Novels Conservatives Will Love (But Probably Haven’t Read) is a good primer, but I would not recommend it to anyone who can identify Hemingway and Henry James by their styles. Continue Reading...
June 26, 2025

Public Money, Private Ideas: The Dilemma of Universities Today

The recent suspension of federal funding by the Trump administration to institutions such as Harvard and Columbia forces us to confront a fundamental contradiction: We value academic independence, yet expect that independence to be financed by taxpayers who may strongly oppose the ideas being promoted within these universities. Continue Reading...
June 25, 2025

The Enduring Value of Weber’s Protestant Ethic

Max Weber published two essays in 1904 and 1905 in the Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik that became one of the most famous books in 20th-century social science: Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismusor The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (hereafter referenced as PE). Continue Reading...
June 24, 2025

An Economist’s Summer Reading List

It’s that time of year again! Longer, warmer days hopefully bring a little more downtime for summer reading. Whether you’re reading them in a hammock or at poolside, these books are exciting and relevant and will keep your mind engaged during the dog days of summer. Continue Reading...
June 24, 2025

Fidelity Month Is a Time for Renewal

Now in its third year, the Fidelity Month movement calls for a nationwide recommitment during the month of June to America’s historic sources of unity and strength: our shared fidelity to God, our spouses and families, our local communities, and our country. Continue Reading...
June 19, 2025

Not by Beauty Alone

In the past 15 years or so, the general turn among Christians of all stripes (even, perhaps counterintuitively, Christians on the very far right) has been away from a rationalistic approach to the Faith and toward an affirmation of the mystery behind its doctrines. Continue Reading...
June 18, 2025

A Modest Proposal from a European Conservative

I come in peace—don’t shoot. I’m one of yours. As a Spanish conservative committed to building a politically robust and intellectually vibrant movement across Europe, this has become my default opening line—sometimes stated outright, sometimes implied—in private meetings and public speeches abroad. Continue Reading...
June 17, 2025

Fight for the First Amendment

Over the vociferous dissent of Justice Neil Gorsuch, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in Apache Stronghold v. United States. The case, which has rattled around federal courts in the Ninth Circuit for about a decade, is focused on the fate of a tract of land known as Oak Flat in Arizona. Continue Reading...