Catastrophe, Technology, Limits, and Localism
Charles C. Mann's The Wizard and the Prophet, published earlier this year, is a fabulous book. Not a perfect book; sometimes, in order to...
Social Isolation as the Fruit of Liberalism
Loneliness is on the rise. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among young people. Our social media networks may number in...
The Formative Power of Metrics
Living in an age where information is merely a click (or swipe) away, we are inundated with metrics. Quantitative data is directed our way at...
The Cost of Knowing One’s Place
The first time you read the novels of Thomas Hardy–especially if you read them as a young adult–you’re likely to get a pretty forceful...
What Do Farmers Want?
The obvious response to the title of this post is: I don't know; why don't you ask one? Well, Robert Wuthnow and his researchers...
Donald Hall and the Unsettling of American Letters
When Donald Hall passed away last week the obituary in his local New Hampshire newspaper made clear what an exceptional and instructive life he...
Review of Suicide of the West
Jonah Goldberg’s Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy, appearing on Amazon and...
Restoring Trust in the Aftermath of Anti-Social Media
We should all be grateful to Siva Vaidhyanathan. He has endured great pain and suffering to explore a dangerous new landscape, and he now...
“Go Talk with Those Who are Rumored to be Unlike You”
On October 2, 2009, the International Olympic Committee met in Denmark to vote on which city would host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Despite President...
Silence, Development, and the Changing Church
Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation of Silence (2016), the 1966 novel by Shusako Endo, follows the trials of a young Portuguese Jesuit, Father Rodrigues, whose...