Journalists are an aging species. Yet one journalistic type may be said to be endangered: the one who courts controversy like the late Christopher Hitchens, Molly Ivins, and William F. Buckley, Jr. In a democracy, this is a shame. Read more
Calling out your political or ideological opponent or opposite has long been easy intellectually. If attacked, you can appeal to like-minded supporters. Calling out someone on your own political “team” or tribe—well, that’s a dicey proposition. Read more
By definition, popular histories ought to appeal to ordinary book buyers and -readers rather than specialists. And the best among them were not meant to comfort political activists, either. Now that has changed. Read more
Though less well known than 1990s spiritual blockbusters such as “Tuesdays with Morrie” or “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success,” Father Ronald Rolheiser’s “The Holy Longing” is not only simpler but also more practical and challenging. Read more
The nonfiction world has become stale and tired; decadent you might say. Here is a modest proposal to reinvigorate and renew it. Read more
While lesser known than “Animal Farm” and “1984,” George Orwell’s 1936 story “Shooting An Elephant” is the clearest, most relevant expression of Orwell’s warning about the perils of dehumanization at the hands of political ideologies and systems other than Soviet Communism. Read more
Mr. Farrow shone a light into a dark corner of a household American institution, NBC News, which, by all accounts, had a deplorable workplace culture where young women were targeted sexually. His fortitude is to his eternal credit. If only he had shown more fairness toward his former employer, the light might still be on it. Read more
The word “rhetoric” has a messed-up etymology. It represents the opposite of its original meaning. Aristotle defined the word as “effective writing or speaking”; think Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Yet rhetoric connotes sophistry or “empty” and “phony” words. How can our words reflect true rhetoric rather than sophistry? In a word, sincerity. Read more
