My daughter is getting married this week. See you next Tuesday.
Archives for April 2024
Needed: A New History of Rural Working-Class Conservatism
What the political history of a rural Georgia county can tell us about Trump’s rise to power
Celebrating the publication of Kathryn Milne, Inside the Roman Legions, 264-107 BCE
A new book takes us inside life and service in the Roman legions, 264-107 BCE
Mike Barnicle, Dan Barry, and Mike Lupica remember Jimmy Breslin
Library of America just sent me a copy of Dan Barry’s edited collection Jimmy Breslin: Essential Writings. I grew-up reading Breslin, the quintessential New York journalist/columnist who used his succinct prose to tell stories of people living on the periphery […]
Evangelical roundup for April 29, 2024
What is happening in Evangelical Land? How evangelicals turned Mike Johnson on Ukraine aid? Jim Wallis’s “false white gospel“ What will evangelicals do about the Trump-Lake flip-flops on abortion? Shane is selling more shirts: Conservative evangelicals who oppose Christian nationalism […]
REVIEW: A Life in Books
A memoir of reading, a memoir of joy
Lying for injustice in Louisiana
From 1994 to 2007, eight judges of Louisiana’s 5th Circuit turned down 5000 petitions from poor prisoners, without reading them.
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Paul Berman excuses the Columbia students, but not the faculty. A new documentary on the work of Robert “Bowling Alone” Putnam. Why isn’t historian Johann Neem a talking head in […]
Song of the Day
Mechanicsburg to Nutley to Roanoke to Grand Rapids, and back to Mechanicsburg
What is trending this week at CURRENT?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Arena blog:
Blessing of Unicorns: Liberalism, children, eldercare, the Lyceum movement, and beautiful writing
This week’s Blessing of Unicorns: Liberalism, children, eldercare, the Lyceum movement, and beautiful writing
Nikki Haley wins nearly 17% of the vote in the Pennsylvania GOP primary
Nikki Haley is no longer running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. But that did not stop her from getting 16.5% of the vote in Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary. In other words, a significant portion of Pennsylvania […]
Evangelical roundup for April 25, 2024
What is happening in Evangelical land? How will the Mike Johnson-Marjorie Taylor Greene breakup affect Trump? The evangelicals who pushed Mike Johnson to push the Ukraine aid bill. And here. World Vision celebrates Earth Day: Evangelicals gather in Krakow, Poland. […]
The lost social justice ethic of the temperance movement
This essay is cross-posted from the Anxious Bench. When even the most conservative of American evangelicals started drinking alcohol, they lost their movement’s philosophical foundation for social justice. That’s an overly simplistic statement, but what I mean by that is […]
Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, and Jenna Ellis face more indictments
This time it’s interference in the 2020 presidential election in Arizona: Here is Yvonne Wingett Sanchez at The Washington Post: An Arizona grand jury on Wednesday indicted seven attorneys and aides affiliated with Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign as well […]
Historian Christopher Brown is not the only one calling for the resignation of Columbia University president Minouche Shafik
Earlier today we called your attention to Columbia University history professor Christopher Brown’s call for the resignation of president Minouche Shafik. He is not alone. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is also calling for Shafik’s resignation, albeit for very […]
Columbia history professor Christopher Brown says the NYPD does not belong on campus
Christopher Brown, the esteemed historian of slavery and abolition at Columbia University, recently spoke, draped in his Oxford University gown, at a rally in support of the student protesters on campus. He also said Columbia president Minouche Shafik should be […]
John McWhorter on the Columbia University campus protests
McWhorter is a Columbia University professor who is teaching classes amid the pro-Palestinian protests on campus. Here is a taste of his piece today at The New York Times: Although I know many Jewish people will disagree with me, I […]
Robert Kagan on antiliberalism and Christian nationalism
Here is an excerpt from Kagan’s book Rebellion: How Antiliberalism is Tearing America Apart. The excerpt is published today at The Washington Post: Trump not only acknowledges his goals, past and present; he promises to do it again if he […]
REVIEW: Fragile Objects
Katy Carl’s stories revive and renew the spiritual vision of Flannery O’ Connor