The Nightstand

Reading Chatwin in Silesia

When I moved to Poland it was the first time I had left Britain. I have lived in the same town for four years...

Reviewing Cræft: An Inquiry into the Origins and True Meaning of...

Taking up a craft—such as knitting, woodworking, or gardening—restores focal practices, re-connects us with the physical world, and provides the satisfaction of self-reliance. These...

Captioning Over our Grief

In the spirit of Oscar season, we do well to look back at what the 2017 ‘Academy’ ignored. One such film is this fall’s...

Prairie Fires and Prairie Romances

Caroline Fraser's wonderful Prairie Fires is many things. Primarily it's a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the justly famous Little House books,...

What is Liberty Anyway?

Patrick Deneen’s new book, Why Liberalism Failed, is a manifesto in defense of place, limits, and liberty. And the amount of attention it’s received...

History as Manifesto

Dillon, MT Having a personal and professional interest in what people think history is for, I read The History Manifesto with great interest. Jo Guldi...

A Call to Arms

JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS.  The review below was first published in the Intercollegiate Review in the fall of 2006.  Look Homeward, America was my first...