The year 2023 witnessed two significant anniversaries related to the life and thought of the political philosopher Leo Strauss: the 70th anniversary of the publication of his best-known and most synoptic work, Natural Right and History (1953), and the 50th anniversary of his death in 1973. A figure of controversy in his life, Strauss and his students (so-called “Straussians”) remain polarizing today. On the one hand, left-wing academics and the journalists who endlessly recirculate clichés and terrible simplifications see in Strauss-influenced scholars an elitist and anti-democratic cabal; tho ..read more

In Book I of his Discourses on Livy, Machiavelli dedicates chapters 7 and 8 to the theme of accusations, calumnies, and their impact on free republics. As with much of his writing, he praises the Roman Republic for how it dealt with these matters and condemns contemporary Florence. Specifically, he considers that accusations are an important venting mechanism to be used against a citizen who is alleged to have wronged the republic in some way. If such a mechanism does not exist, Machiavelli argues, then factions will form in the republic and lead to the potential intervention of a foreign powe ..read more

In land acknowledgments, there is to be found a fatuous mix of nerve and naiveté. The former comes to light in the public pronouncement that some present-day site was once the ancestral homeland of another people and that those currently occupying it and making the pronouncement have absolutely no intention of giving it back. Imagine finding a lost dog, keeping it, and solemnly proclaiming that this dog traditionally belonged to the Thompsons who live down the street. If the people issuing such statements were not so thoroughly neutered, one might say upon hearing a land acknowledgment: that t ..read more

Like a drunken but unforgettable one-night stand between Jay McInerny’s Bright Lights, Big City, and Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, Tara Isabella Burton’s Here In Avalon rips up the map of genre fiction, breaking walls and blurring boundaries that normally keep romance, thriller, fantasy, and literary fiction safely separated. The result is a bittersweet, romantic ride, but also a work that inspires us to think more deeply about the very nature of the genres we enjoy, to question, in effect, the genre of our own dreams and desires, and the writerly magic inherent in all fiction. All writers are tri ..read more

The best scenes in Masters of the Air, a nine-part series on Apple TV, arrive at 25,000 feet, as squadrons of B-17 Flying Fortresses cruise in formation to bomb Germany during World War II. Oxygen masks strapped on, the crews man their posts and brace for flak and Luftwaffe fighter planes. The ball turret gunner squeezes into his glass globe in the underbelly, the waist gunners swing their weapons to the ready, the navigator hunches over crinkling charts, the bombardier readies his Norden bombsight. On the flight deck, the pilot and co-pilot grimly watch as flak shells burst and pop. The gray ..read more

Since the smash hit of Jordan B. Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life, publishers have been looking for other notable figures who might provide self-help for young, conservative men. I reviewed another such entry for Law & Liberty, and now I turn to one by Eduard Habsburg, from the storied European aristocratic family that once ruled over half of Europe, most of South America, and even part of North America. Indeed, on the cover, Habsburg includes his title, “Archduke of Austria,” a claim now of only symbolic importance, as Austria is a republic that abolished titles of nobility in 1919. Habsburg ..read more

You find yourself in a bar, deeply engaged in a discussion with a friend over a public policy issue. You hold your position with confidence, convinced beyond doubt that there’s no room for debate. Every article you have read, every news segment you have watched, and every conversation you have had in the past month regarding this issue has reinforced your stance. In your mind, you are right, and your friend is mistaken. The evidence, as you see it, is undeniable. Why, then, does she fail to acknowledge what seems to be so clear? However, it dawns on you that she’s not alone in her perspective ..read more

Daniel Miller’s sprawling essay “American Counterrevolution” argues in florid tones that the West and America are currently being devoured by revolution. Miller notes that “the distinctions which structured Western thought for millennia are in crisis.” What once stood “between the public and the private, between men and women, between the profane and the sacred, and between the guilty and the innocent” has broken down. This revolution—like all revolutions—promises us something new, but Miller notes earlier in the essay that all political revolutions are the same in their essentials. Miller rec ..read more

Abigail Shrier’s Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up makes a devastating case against the infantilizing way we are raising American children today.  Shrier, an investigative journalist and mother of three, draws on empirical studies to show that authoritative parents have the happiest, strongest, and most resilient kids. Her own study of nearly one thousand families tells the same tale: Kids who can rely on their parents for love, discipline, and boundaries typically grow up to become society’s “load-bearing walls,” capable of taking responsibility for themselves and others. But t ..read more

Liberalism has faced strong intellectual headwinds since 2008. The collapse of the financial system did not just rock consumer confidence but the political system on which it was founded. Ever since, we have witnessed rising concern about the state of liberalism in America, creating a genuine fear of backsliding. Could a political order again emerge that sees inequality between peoples as natural and ongoing? Will political movements fearful of globalisation and its fruits gain the upper hand? Will identity-focused politics overwhelm liberal ideals and values about intrinsic human worth? It is ..read more