Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
The Improbable Wendell Willkie: The Businessman Who Saved the Republican Party and His Country, and Conceived a New World Order (David Levering Lewis)
Season 1 Episode 37
Some thoughts, mostly grouchy, on the habit of Republicans to betray. Not a new phenomenon, as this book shows. But a fatal one. (The written version of this review, in web, PDF, and ebook formats, c…
Published on 6 years, 3 months ago
Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline (Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson)
Episode 36
This book is earnest and valuable, but completely inadequate and gap-filled. (The written version of this review was first published February 12, 2019. Written versions, in web and PDF formats, are a…
Published on 6 years, 3 months ago
A Humane Economy: The Social Framework of the Free Market (Wilhelm Röpke)
Episode 35
Wilhelm Röpke's 1960 "A Humane Economy" offered prescriptions for combining free markets with necessary limits. Valuable thoughts in today's flux. (The written version of this review was first publ…
Published on 6 years, 3 months ago
A History of Venice (John Julius Norwich)
Episode 34
Why Venice, interesting of itself, has much to say to us today. (The written version of this review was first published January 31, 2019. Written versions, in web and PDF formats, are available here…
Published on 6 years, 3 months ago
Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism (James Stevens Curl)
Episode 33
For a century, we have been subjected to ugly architecture. How did we get here, and what can be done about it? (The written version of this review, in web, PDF, and ebook formats, can be found here.…
Published on 6 years, 4 months ago
The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny (William Strauss and Neil Howe)
Episode 32
Steve Bannon loves this book. I don't. (The written version of this review was first published January 22, 2019. Written versions, in web and PDF formats, are available here.)
Published on 6 years, 4 months ago
On the “Dark Enlightenment,” and of Curtis Yarvin / Mencius Moldbug
Episode 31
My generally negative take on the lines of thought that fall under the umbrella of the "Dark Enlightenment." (The written version of this review was first published June 27, 2018. Written versions,…
Published on 6 years, 4 months ago
American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm (Thomas P. Hughes)
Episode 30
This thirty-year-old book talks of a century of American technological progress that ended twenty years before it was published. What does that century of technological grandeur tell us about today?…
Published on 6 years, 4 months ago
Eumeswil (Ernst Jünger)
Episode 29
This classic book, by the protean Ernst Jünger, is often taken to be a libertarian manifesto. That is entirely wrong. (The written version of this review was first published January 21, 2019. Writt…
Published on 6 years, 4 months ago
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (James Fitzjames Stephen)
Episode 28
Today we offer thoughts about a contemporaneous attack on the "harm principle" of that avatar of Enlightenment and progressive thought, John Stuart Mill. (The written version of this review can be f…
Published on 6 years, 4 months ago