Two Wilsons

The Homer of the Ants, by Margaret Atwood, review of 'Anthill', by E.O. Wilson

San Francisco Fifty Years Ago (Kenneth Rexroth’s complete columns for the San Francisco Examiner)

Smackdown: Keynes vs. Hayek With Poll, by VA Classical Liberal (via InstaPundit)

As a progressive, Obama hews to the Wilsonian tradition, by George F. Will

Frost's notebooks: a disaster revisited, by William Logan, review of 'The Notebooks of Robert Frost', edited by Robert Faggen

Full measure of devotion, by William Wan

Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.


Also of interest: Just press print: New technology promises to prolong the life of the book

Founders lost? Shakespeare found?

Algebra in Wonderland, by Melanie Bayley

Lincoln in Peoria, by Harry V. Jaffa, review of 'Lincoln at Peoria: The Turning Point', by Lewis E. Lehrman, and 'Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America, by Garry Wills

How Christian Were the Founders?, by Russell Shorto

Madison's Avenues, by Michael P. Zuckert, review of 'The Madisonian Constitution', by George Thomas, and 'James Madison and the Spirit of Republican Self-Government', by Colleen A. Sheehan

'Shakespeare's lost play' no hoax, says expert, by Mark Brown
(via Joe Carter at First Things)

Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.


Also of interest: Great Books Academy

Reclusive author, hidden scrolls

Recluseland, by Mark Steyn

Why Orwell Endures, by George Wheatcroft

‘Mad as a Hatter’: The History of a Simile, by Pat Ryan

In Our Time - Calvinism, BBC Radio 4 (via Video meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor)

Voice of Reason: A message for Jews and Christians, The Economist, review of 'The Story of the Scrolls: The Miraculous Discovery and True Significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls', by Geza Vermes


Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.


Also of interest: Library Science, by Pagan Kennedy, review of 'This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, by Marilyn Johnson

Book travel: Dresden

A Fair Maiden, review by Todd VanDerWerff, of 'A Fair Maiden', by Joyce Carol Oates

Getting to Slaughterhouse Five in Dresden, Germany

Better to React Than to Act, by Tim Wogan (via Joe Carter at First Things)

Ring Lardner, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The New Republic, October 11, 1933

Wallace Stevens, New York and Modernism, conference March 4-6, 2010, Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts, 1 Washington Place, New York, NY

The Rage of Virginia Woolf, by Theodore Dalrymple (via Jay Nordlinger The Corner)


Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.


Also of interest: Darrell Huff and Fifty Years of 'How to Lie with Statistics', by J. Michael Steele (via Wikipedia)

Old Macdonald

Joyce Carol Oates on Joyce Carol Oates, by Alexandra Alter, on 'A Widow's Memoir', by Joyce Carol Oates (via Arts & Letters Daily)

Money and Manners, by Christopher Caldwell, review of 'Manhattan Monologues', by Louis Auchincloss (via Joseph Bottum at First Things)

Walker Percy at Notre Dame: on receiving the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame at the 1989 Commencement (via Charlotte was Both)

Why Do People Love 'Catcher in the Rye'? by Gish Jen

Giving Emerson the Boot, by William Major and Bryan Sinche

Bible Study, by Rich Cohen, review of 'Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible', by David Plotz


Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.


Also of interest: Bring Back Dwight! by John Summers, review of 'Against the American Grain', by Dwight Macdonald

Louis Auchincloss and J. D. Salinger R.I.P.

Too Much Happiness, review by Todd VanDerWerff of 'Too Much Happiness', by Alice Munro

An Evening with Justice Blackmun on the Anniversary of 'Roe', by Deal W. Hudson (via Center for the Study of The Great Ideas)

'Catcher in the Rye' author J.D. Salinger dies, and What's in Salinger's safe? by Hillel Italie

Louis Auchincloss, Chronicler of New York’s Upper Crust, Dies at 92, by Holcomb B. Noble and Charles McGrath (via Arts & Letters Daily)

'Fear the Boom and Bust': a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem, by John Papola and Russ Roberts (via Todd Zywicki at The Volokh Conspiracy)

An End to the Myth of the Tortured Soul, by Fisun Guner (via Arts & Letters Daily)

Cicero Superstar, by Mary Ann Glendon


Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.


Also of interest: The Book Club With Just One Member, by Motoko Rich

Semantic Time Travel, by Caleb Crain, review of 'Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary'

Nonfiction Chronicle, by Tara McKelvey, includes review of 'The Awakener: A Memoir of Kerouac and the Fifties', by Helen Weaver

Not only connected, by Brooke Allen, review of 'Concerning E. M. Forster', by Frank Kermode

Portrait of macabre author: Edgar Allan Poe shows a younger, vigorous scholar on the rise, by Ben Nuckols

Living Constitution, Dying Faith, by Lee J. Strang, review of 'Living Constitution, Dying Faith: Progressivism and the New Science of Jurisprudence, by Bradley C.S. Watson

Story of Newton's encounter with apple goes online, by Raphael G. Satter (via JSOnline)


Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.


Also of interest: Where Baby Orwell Lived, by Charles McGrath

Prince of the absurd, review of 'Albert Camus: Solitaire et Solidaire', by Catherine Camus, 'Les Derniers Jours de la Vie d'Albert Camus', by José Lenzini, 'Albert Camus, Fils d'Alger', by Alain Vircondelet, and 'Albert Camus, by Virgil Tanase

Walker Percy Documentary Preview (via Gregory Wolfe at dotCommonweal)

Only Reflect, by Edmund White, review of 'Concerning E. M. Forster', by Frank Kermode

After the masterpiece, by Alexander Nazaryan, review of 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories', by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

More Perfect, by Adam Liptak, review of 'The Citizen's Constitution: An Annotated Guide', by Seth Lipsky, and 'The Annotated U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence', edited by Jack N. Rakove

Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.

Also of interest: Cindy's Love of Books (via )

John Dewey and the Philosophical Refounding of America, by Tiffany Jones Miller

A Man of Influence, by Jeffrey Rosen, review of 'American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia', by Joan Biskupic

The Powers of Dr. Johnson by Andrew O'Hagan, review of 'Samuel Johnson: A Biography', by Peter Martin, 'Samuel Johnson: Selected Writings', edited by Peter Martin, 'Samuel Johnson: The Struggle, by Jeffrey Meyers, and Samuel Johnson: A Life' by David Nokes

Two Gentlemen of Lebowski, by Adam Bertocci

In the Beginning, by Frank Kermode, review of 'A Literary Bible: An Original Translation, by David Rosenberg

Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.

Also of interest: Unbound is not unbeatable: The buzz of the e-book might fade if libraries promoted more hands-on experiences, by Alex Beam (via Arts & Letters Daily)

Poetry Chronicle, by Eric McHenry, with review of 'News of the World: Poems, by Philip Levine

Tests of Time, by William H. Gass, review by Jason Picone

Big Brother Is Watching You, Friends of Irony

Death for Fun and Profit, by John Sutherland, review of 'The Original of Laura (Dying is Fun)', by Vladimir Nabakov

Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.

'Race' on Broadway, review of 'Race', by David Mamet

Lenten Letters (Alexander Solzhenitsyn)

Problems with 'Holmes' seem elementary, by Duane Dudek, review of 'Holmes', directed by Guy Ritchie

Stendhal in Parma, Italy, by Adam Begley

Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.

Lessons from "The Leopard": Is Europe becoming too accustomed to genteel decline? by "Charlemagne"

Prudence, by Randall Munroe (via Matthew at The Shrine of Holy Whapping)

He Was No Wilsonian, by Beverly Gage, review of Woodrow Wilson: A Biography, by John Milton Cooper Jr.

Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.

John Ashbery, Toying With Words, by Helen Vendler, review of 'Planisphere: New Poems', by John Ashbery

T.S. Eliot’s 100th Anniversary, video of address by Russell Kirk at Hillsdale College, June 26, 1988

A Christmas Rewrite, as Dickens Edits Dickens, by Alison Leigh Cowan (via Althouse)

St. Augustine and The Onion on Unrepentant Sociopaths (Also Known As "Children"), by Joe Carter

Justifying Paul, by Gary Culpepper, review of 'Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision', by N.T. Wright


Also of interest: 60 second recap (via Meghan Duke at First Thoughts)

Voters Choose Flannery O’Connor in National Book Award Poll, by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, November 19, 2009, 10:41 am (via Kerry Weber at In All Things)

The Public Square column, by Richard John Neuhaus, 'While We’re At It', First Things, January 2008, quotes Clive James on Walter Benjamin, "Part of his sad fate has been to have his name bandied about the intellectual world without very many of its inhabitants being quite sure why, apart from the vague idea that he was a literary critic who somehow got beyond literary criticism: he got up into the realm of theory, where critics rank as philosophers if they are hard enough to read."

Saul Alinsky and Jacques Maritain: A Spiritual Paternity, by Hierothee, December 1, 2009 @ 2:57 PM (via Dad29)

Slavery’s Constitution, by David Luhrssen, Shepherd Express, August 17,2009, review of 'Slavery’s Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification', by David Waldstreicher


Also of interest: The Six Greatest Fantasy Novels of All Time, by Lev Grossman, Techland, November 24, 2009 (via Ilya Somin at The Volokh Conspiracy)

Harry Potter and the Unauthorized Sequel, by Bruce E. Boyden, Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog, August 19, 2009

Philosophy and Tyranny, by Damon Linker, First Things, January 2002, review of 'Heidegger's Children', by Richard Wolin, and 'The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics', by Mark Lilla, quotes Lilla on Walter Benjamin, "the modern incarnation of the type of thinker who cannot be understood apart from traditional theological distinctions."

Film Adaptation Of 'The Brothers Karamazov' Ends Where Most People Stop Reading Book, The Onion, August 17, 2009

No plain Jane, The Economist, November 19, 2009, review of 'A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen', edited by Susannah Carson

Too many people? No, too many Malthusians, by Brendan O’Neill, Spiked Review of Books, November 19, 2009 (via Arts & Letters Daily)

Theory and Morality in the New Economy , by David Leonhardt, The New York Times, August 19, 2009

Pearls Before Swine, by Stephen Pastis, November 20, 2009

Freedom Beyond Our Choosing: Augustine on the Will and Its Objects, by D. C. Schindler, Communio, Winter 2002

What made the Greeks laugh?, by Mary Beard, The Times Literary Supplement, February 18, 2009, review of 'Greek Laughter', by Stephen Halliwell. "There may be little doubt that the Athenian audience laughed heartily at the plays of Aristophanes, as we can still. But very few modern readers have been able to find much to laugh at in the hugely successful comedies of the fourth-century dramatist Menander, formulaic and moralizing as they were. Are we missing the joke? Or were they simply not funny in that laugh-out-loud sense?"

Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.

Also of interest: Catholic Bibliophagist: The adventures of a Catholic reader with a catholic library.

Achebe revisits themes of Africa, by Henry C. Jackson, Associated Press, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 15, 2009, review of 'The Education of a British-Protected Child', by Chinua Achebe

Atwood does doom well once again, by Geeta Sharma Jensen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, posted: November 14, 2009, review of 'The Year of the Flood', by Margaret Atwood

Remembering Drucker: Four years after his death, Peter Drucker remains the king of the management gurus, Schumpeter column, The Economist, November 19, 2009

Children’s Books, Lost and Found, by Joseph Bottum, First Things, December 2008. "When William Golding won the Nobel Prize in 1983, it was mostly for the power of his 1954 novel 'Lord of the Flies'. And there’s a reason that he based the book on (and made a horror story out of) R.M. Ballantyne’s 1857 feel-good children’s classic, 'The Coral Island'.

Keynes, Friedman Give Way to the Master of Gloom, by Amity Shlaes, Bloomberg, November 10, 2009. "'Emergencies,' Hayek wrote, 'have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have eroded.'" (via Ten Reasons)

The Keynes comeback, The Economist, October 1, 2009, review of 'Keynes: The Twentieth Century’s Most Influential Economist, by Peter Clarke, 'Keynes: The Return of the Master, by Robert Skidelsky, and 'The Keynes Solution: The Path to Global Economic Prosperity, by Paul Davidson

The Credo of Paul VI. Who Wrote It, and Why, by Sandro Magister, translated by Matthew Sherry, Chiesa, June 6, 2008 "The Church had a 1968 upheaval of its own, expressed for example in the Dutch Catechism. The response of pope Montini was the 'Credo of the People of God.' It has now come to light that it was written by his friend, the philosopher Jacques Maritain."

Looking Backward and the Fallone-Boyden Debate, by J. Gordon Hylton, Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog, August 18, 2009

Why Do We Call Galileo Galilei by His First Name? We don't go around saying "Albert" discovered relativity, by Brian Palmer, Slate, August 19, 2009

Road Trip, by Harold Bloom, The New York Times, November 11, 2009, review of 'The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling', by Peter Ackroyd

Fake but Aristotelian? Actually, the great Greek philosopher probably didn't endorse ObamaCare, by James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, October 16, 2009, on a quote attributed to Aristotle, "If we believe men have any personal rights at all, then they must have an absolute moral right to such a measure of good health as society can provide."

Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.

Also of interest: Trench Literature: Reading in World War I, by Richard Davies, Udo Goellmann, and Sara Melendre, ABEbooks

'Humbling' lacks much to be enthused about, by Mike Fischer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, posted: November 7, 2009, review of 'The Humbling', by Philip Roth

The Book of Harry: How the boy wizard won over religious critics -- and the deeper meaning theologians now see in his tale, by Michael Paulson, Boston Globe, August 16, 2009 (via Arts & Letters Daily)

Second Serving of a "Moveable Feast" Sparks Debate, by Steve Paul, Review-a-Day, August 12, 2009, review of ' A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition, by Ernest Hemingway

The sovereign ghost of Wallace Stevens, by William Logan, The New Criterion, October 2009, review of 'Selected Poems', edited by John N. Serio

Arlo & Janis, by Jimmy Johnson, November 9, 2009


Terrible man, celebrated writer, The Economist, November 5, 2009, review of 'Knut Hamsun: Dreamer and Dissenter', by Ingar Sletten Kolloen.

"I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...", by Doug Brown, Review-a-Day, August 15, 2009, review of 'Walden' and 'Civil Disobedience', by Henry David Thoreau

Recommended Reading for MPs 1: Paradise Lost, by David Womersley, Social Affairs Unit, August 12, 2009

Will Helen Mirren conquer Racine as Phedre? by Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph, June 8, 2009 "Writing at the time of Louis XIV’s absolutism in an era of austerely reflective Catholicism, Racine proposes an all-or-nothing morality, in which there is no grey area of compromise and good and evil cannot be altered or evaded." (via The Huffington Post)


Desert can be arena of the divine, by Timothy M. Dolan, 'Herald of Hope' column, Milwaukee Catholic Herald, March 5, 2009

"we make an act of faith that God is as much with us in the desert as He is in the Oasis.

"As Thomas a Kempis, the author of The Imitation of Christ, observed, 'The Lord visits his elect in two ways: in consolation, and in desolation.'

"There it is again: the desert and the oasis."


Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.


Also of interest: Librophiliac Love Letter: A Compendium of Beautiful Libraries, Curious Expeditions, September 6, 2007 (via Video meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor)

Leading French Intellectual Shaped Modern Anthropology; Claude Levi-Strauss: 1908-2009, by Stephen Miller, The Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2009

One for the Good Guys, by Dave Eggers, The New York Times, October 29, 2009, review of 'Look at the Birdie: Unpublished Short Fiction, by Kurt Vonnegut

In the Long Run, by Justin Fox, The New York Times, October 30, 2009, review of 'Keynes: The Rise, Fall, and Return of the 20th Century’s Most Influential Economist', by Peter Clarke, and 'Keynes: The Return of the Master', by Robert Skidelsky

An Old Master, Back in Fashion, by Devin Leonard, The New York Times, October 31, 2009, review of 'Keynes: The Rise, Fall, and Return of the 20th Century’s Most Influential Economist', by Peter Clarke, 'The Keynes Solution: The Path to Global Economic Prosperity', by Paul Davidson, and 'Keynes: The Return of the Master', by Robert Skidelsky. On the last, "The author says that Keynes would have been troubled by the United States’ longstanding policy of running deficits even in prosperous times and that he opposed tax rates higher than 25 percent. The book adds that Keynes shared the [Milton] Friedman view that governments could stabilize prices by limiting the money supply."

An artist making art, The Economist, October 29, 2009, review of 'Vincent van Gogh: The Letters', edited by Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nienke Bakker

John Henry Newman and Music, by Susan Treacy, Adoremus Bulletin, November 2009

Edgar Allan Poe finally getting proper funeral, by Ben Nuckols, Associated Press, ABC News, October 6, 2009

The Critic’s Critic, by Harold Bloom, The New York Times, November 5, 2009, review of 'Samuel Johnson: A Life', by David Nokes

Cherry Tree? Let's Negotiate: The Father of Our Country as a Sammy Glickish 'man on the make', by Aram Bakshian, Jr., The Wall Street Journal, posted August 20, 2009 8:45 P.M. ET, review of 'The Ascent of George Washington', by John Ferling (via Arts & Letters Daily)

Reading Rat: Recommended reading by these authors.

Also of interest: Forgotten Bookmarks. "I work at a used and rare bookstore, and I buy books from people every day. These are the personal, funny, heartbreaking and weird things I find in those books."