Ramesh reviews “Why Democrats are Blue: Secular Liberalism and the Decline of the People’s Party” for First Things.

Interviewed by Peter Robinson on NRO’s Uncommon Knowledge.

on NRO’s “Between the Covers.”

The Tyrannicide Brief: The Story of the Man Who Sent Charles I to the Scaffold by Geoffrey Robertson is the best book I have read in years.  I urge all of you to pick up a copy for Christmas.  The book is primarily about John Cooke, a forgotten figure in both the UK and USA. 

Cooke was the prosecutor who formulated the novel charge of tyranny against Charles I.  Cooke was also a legal reformer.  For example, he was the first to urge the abolition of imprisonment for debt. 

The account of Charles I’s trial makes a great read.  It was also a pretty fair trial–not like the show trials of the regicides conducted after the Restoration. For those of you with an interest in the history of the law and republican England, give this book a try. 

In today’s WSJ, Christopher Hitchens takes an appropriately sharp look at O.J. Simpson’s new “book.”

Jim Powell has recently published a new book: Bully Boy: The Truth About Theodore Roosevelt’s Legacy.  I have yet to purchase this book, but expect it to be a strong revisionist history similar to his last book on Woodrow Wilson.   

Tom Woods has a review up at the American Conservative.  Here is a snippet I liked:

Bill Clinton once referred to Theodore Roosevelt as his favorite Republican president. And no wonder: TR’s presidential activism, his frequent use of executive orders to effect policy, and his loathing of nonintervention make him appealing to present-day Democrats and Republicans alike. Clinton went so far as to award TR a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor, a prize for which TR had unsuccessfully lobbied during his lifetime. (“I am entitled to the Medal of Honor and I want it,” he wrote to a friend upon his return from the Spanish-American War.) It was thought at the time that since he had served in the war for a mere two weeks and his exploits had been confined to a single day, he came up short of the requirements for the medal.

It’s not often that I agree with anything written by the folks at Commonweal, but they are absolutely right in their assessment of Damon Linker’s book, “Theocons”:

The Theocons, Damon Linker’s new book about his former boss, First Things editor Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, is a Catholic The Devil Wears Prada, with payback on every page.

As those who have read the novel or seen the recent movie starring Meryl Streep will know, The Devil Wears Prada, written by a former assistant to Vogue editor Anna Wintour, describes a Cruella De Vil-type tyrant who forces her underlings to fetch lattes and her fur coats. Unlike novelist Lauren Weisberger, though, Linker does not get into his former mentor’s personal foibles. No, it’s weirder than that. Linker reveals-and I hope you are ready for this-that Neuhaus and his friends (most prominently Michael Novak and George Weigel) are trying to influence public policy based on their deeply held religious beliefs. Worse, they appear to be succeeding. It’s as if Wintour’s assistant at Vogue had written a scorcher blowing the lid off the fact that all those fashionistas ever do is obsess about clothes.

Heh. I love that last line. Well said.

For publishing his first book, “The Ring Around the Moon.” Here’s a brief description of the book:

The Ring Around The Moon is a collection of writing that spans almost 20 years. The title for this book is from the opening and closing poems, which read more like a bedtime story. This story actually bookends a collection of thoughts in rhyme. It is a journey through adolescence, finding love and purpose in the world, a deep love for God and for those who have helped shape his life. Heartfelt and real, this book will give you a glimpse of who the writer is and the journeys he has taken.

It sounds very interesting, and I look forward to reading it.

Way to go, Moose!

One of the really cool things about having a blog that more than a handful of people read is that publishers are constantly sending me free books (I’ve received about 20 boks in the last 4 months). The way it normally works is that a publishing representative will send me an email that says, “So-and-so has a brilliant book coming out in the next few weeks on X. Would you be interested in receiving a free copy?” To which, I normally respond, “Sure.”

Well, this evening I came to a really neat surprise. Some kind soul at Doubleday sent me Scott Hahn’s latest book, entitled “Ordinary Work, Extraordinary Grace: My spiritual journey in Opus Dei.” Now, those of you who have been reading SA for some time now know that I think the world of Scott Hahn, and I am . . . well, let’s just say I feel a strong connection to Opus Dei. :) So, I am obviously thrilled to have an advance copy of the book. I am a little perplexed as to how I got on the freebie list. Indeed, I never even received an email about the book, which is a tad unusual. But I am certainly not complaining. Thanks Doubleday! You rule! 

In any event, I plan on reviewing the book for y’all in the near future; so, stay tuned.

It happens every once in a while. You discover something that is really special, that should be incredibly successful, but unaccountably, isn’t. A very well read friend made me aware of the fiction of Lars Walker. He writes mostly about Vikings during the period when Christianity contended with pagan religions, but he also has a contemporary novel (which happens to deal with Viking lore!).

I cannot give a high enough recommendation to Lars Walker’s The Year of the Warrior. I had to wait for it, but it was completely worth the wait. The narrator of the story is a young Irishman taken captive to sell as a slave by Vikings. They give him a tonsure to make him look like a priest so he’ll fetch a higher price. A newly converted Viking nobleman buys him because he needs a priest for his village. The Irishman decides to play the part of the priest in order to survive and the action flows from there.

Wonderful historical saga. Interesting insights about the Christian faith and its relationship to political power. Some beautiful battle sequences, too. Fully developed characters. Worth reading in every way.

So why the lack of bestseller status? I have a guess. The Lars Walker novels are published by Baen, which really specializes in sword and sorcery/science fiction. The covers of the Walker books have that look to them, but they are actually much deeper. I think the normal Baen reader is disappointed by the lack of standard genre stuff when they buy the book. But you, dear reader, will not be disappointed. You shall be blessed.

Over the weekend I read Between Two Worlds- Escape From Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam. The author, Zainab Salbi, pens her account of living in Saddam’s psychological prison as the daughter of his personal Boeing 747 pilot. Those of you who saw the movie Downfall should also find this story interesting as well. Both reveal the frightening pathology of tyrants and their toadies. This book has been out for at least a year but I just discovered it. You can hear Salbi’s NPR commentary which was aired in December 2005.

President Bush recently read “The Stranger,” by Albert Camus.

Personally, I think he can do much better than that (see, e.g., this).

Any other suggestions (both serious and humorous)? 

I figure Larry Arnhart had to sit on the pot for a long time to come up with this thesis. His book…. Darwinian Conservatism.

It’s finally out — Gerard V. Bradley’s short book, A Student’s Guide to the Study of Law, for ISI.  You can even download the whole thing free, here.  This is the latest installment of ISI’s marvelous series, The Preston A. Wells Student Guides to the Major Disciplines. 

I very much look forward to reading Professor Bradley’s book!

Has anyone else noticed that a snippet of Rick Springfield’s song, “Affair of the heart,” sounds like Harry Potter speaking in parseltongue?

(Post inspired by Sirius Radio)

Wilfred McClay reviews Douglas Brinkley’s book about Hurricane Katrina.  (HT: Prof. Knippenberg on NLT.)

I hadn’t until I read this post; and I must say, I was stunned by this guy’s approach to pastoring.

Anyway, I found the post interesting, so I thought I would pass it along.

(LvSSI)

The renovation of Miss Welty’s home (in Jackson, Mississippi) has been completed, and it is now open to the public by advance reservation.  (If you’re not familiar with this Mississippi author, click here or here.)

Watch Tom Wolfe discuss “What’s Southern Today?” from the North Carolina Festival of the Book.

The renowned historian of Christianity died Saturday, aged 82.  You can get an idea of Pelikan’s life work from his web site and this Mark Noll essay from 1990.  In 2004 he and theologian Paul Ricoeur shared the Kluge Prize awarded by the Library of Congress.

Check out the cool new blog promoting Richard Brookhiser’s latest book, What Would the Founders Do? Our Questions, Their Answers (Perseus Books).

Wolfe gave the Jefferson Lecture at the Library of Congress last Wednesday.  The text is now available online – along with an interview of Wolfe by the chairman of the NEH, and several other pages.  The lecture has a Percy-esque feel to it, with Wolfe arguing that writers should devote more effort to studying and writing about ”homo loquax.”  Wolfe does not mention Percy in the lecture, however.  Does anyone know if Wolfe has ever discussed Walker Percy’s work?

Hat tip: Steve Sailer.

James Bowman spoke about his recent book by this title at AEI yesterday. James O’Sullivan was the discussant. You can watch the program here.

Bonus round: Bowman had a thoughtful essay on Allen Ginsberg’s Howl a couple week ago in the WSJ. It’s also on his website, here.

Now that I have finished my (probably last) law review article and I don’t have any outside-of-work writing projects, I’ve started to do a bit of pleasure reading again.   Hence, I thought I’d share a brief word about two books, one new and one old. 

I just finished Eric Burns’s book Infamous Scribblers.  The book is a history of American journalism from the beginnings of the colonies until the early 1800s.  Burns discusses just how partisan and loose with the truth the colonial press was and concludes that as compared with the newspapers read by the Founders, our modern press is actually a step up.  This is an good read, discussing everything from the Zenger trial to the Sedition Act Crisis. 

Once I put Infamous Scribblers down, I started Donald Davidson’s book The Attack on Leviathan, which was first published in 1938.  Davidson, of course, was a contributor to I’ll Take My Stand (one of my favorite books of all time) and was a leader of the Agarians.  I’m actually a bit embarassed I have never read this book.  From what I have seen so far, this is a book every Southern conservative should read.  Davidson’s insights on role of regionalism in American politics, although written 80 years ago, apply to the current blue state-red state split we see today.  I’ll post more on this book later after I have finished. But it is no wonder Russel Kirk worked so hard to see that this book stayed in print. 

Matthew Mehan interviews Ramesh Ponnuru re: his latest (and excellent) book, “Party of Death” (which, as of yesterday, is now available for purchase).

There is an outstanding article in The Atlantic about the failed attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran during the Carter years.  As bad as this was, I am nonetheless astonished at the talent and bravery found in our U.S. Armed Forces.  If this kind of stuff floats your boat you may also enjoy Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces.

I just finished reading a glowing review of “A country I do not recognize” in Crisis, and I thought I’d mention the book here at SA for those of you who (perhaps like me) had not heard of it before. Judge Robert Bork edited the book, which contains six essays. The contributors are: Bork, Lee A. Casey, David Davenport, Terry Eastland, Lino A. Graglia, Gary L. McDowell, and David B. Rivkin Jr.

And here’s a brief description of the essays contained in the book:

During the past forty years, activists have repeatedly used the court system to achieve social and political change. On both the domestic and international fronts, they have accomplished substantive policy results that could not otherwise be obtained through the ordinary political processes of government both in the United States and abroad. In five insightful essays, the contributors to this volume show how these legal decisions have seriously undermined America’s sovereignty and values.

The first essay details how the Supreme Court has taken the law out of the hands of the people and their elected representatives and used it to overthrow or undermine traditional values, customs, and practices through judge-made constitutional law that is divorced from the Constitution. The second contribution examines the legal principle of “universal jurisdiction”—which suggests that any state can define, proscribe, prosecute, and punish certain “international” criminal offenses, regardless of where the relevant conduct took place, or the nationality of the perpetrators or victims—and shows how it challenges the American people’s authority over their own destiny. A third contribution looks at how the “new diplomacy” promoted by nongovernmental organizations worldwide seeks to alter the world’s political power structure in a way that presents real threats to American sovereignty and values. Another essay takes on the current legal interpretation of a contrived “right to privacy” and reveals how it poses a serious threat to constitutional self-government. The book’s final contribution looks at the Supreme Court’s religion decisions and asserts that they have done serious damage to our religious freedom and helped make our country a far more secular society than ever before.

Sounds like a great read.

By the way, the title of the book comes from a Scalia dissent, in which he notes, “The Court must be living in another world. Day by day, case by case, it is busy designing a Constitution for a country I do not recognize.” Bonus points if you can name that case. 

Update: Professor DeBow noticed that one can read the book for free here. Most excellent!

Many thanks to George Leef for this kind review of my book Reclaiming the American Revolution.  Apparently, George did this a couple of months ago, but someone just sent me the link. 

Jonah Goldberg on Ramesh’s yet-to-be-released book (which I apparently received an advance copy of–very cool!);

Ramesh’s book isn’t officially out yet, so we are enjoined from discussing it in detail. But as someone who read the manuscript and finds it to be a simply amazing piece of work, I can tell you that you will definitely hear a lot about it, partcularly around here. If you are remotely interested in “life” issues and want a clear, powerful, logical and calm presentention of the pro-life perspective on a host of issues, I cannot even think of another work which comes close. If you want to follow the debate(s) from the get-go, I suggest buying it now. Right now.

From what I’ve read thus far, I’d say Jonah’s characterization of the book is spot on.

I just started reading Ramesh’s new book tonight, and thus far it is excellent. Ramesh is an extremely gifted writer to say the least. I especially liked this line from the introduction:

The Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that “emanations and penumbras” from the Constitution protected a right to abortion. The Constitution might not explicitly recognize the right, in other words, but it protected a shadow that protected abortion. Monstrous things can happen in the darkness.

Indeed.