books
‘No Place’ Is a Bad Place—Le Guin’s Timeless Message of ‘The Lathe of Heaven’

The word utopia literally means "no place" in the original Greek. Thomas More named his f...

books
Elegy to an Empire: ‘The Radetzky March,’ by Joseph Roth

The Austrian Jewish writer Joseph Roth (1894-1939) was an elegiast of the Austro-Hungari...

fiction1
BBC Announces ‘War and Peace’ Cast; Davies to Write Screenplay

The British Broadcasting Corporation announced yesterday the cast for its upcoming six-h...

movies
‘Hobbit’ Tops Christmas Weekend Box Office, ‘Interview’ Shows Agility of Distribution System

Several new films hit U.S. theaters over the Christmas weekend, but The Hobbit: The Bat...

culture101
Christmas-Themed TV Movies and Programs Reach Record Numbers

This Christmas season (known to Christians as Advent) has brought the most Christmas progr...

commerce
FCC’s OTT Reclassification Portends More Trouble for Cable, Satellite Providers

As I mentioned here a couple of weeks ago, a variety of factors is breaking down the cur...

economicspolicy
University Moves to Force Racial Grade Equality Regardless of Students’ Performance

“Many American colleges and universities are in the thrall of 'diversity,' but none mo...

books
Cultural Tide Beginning to Turn? ‘Golden Age’ Mystery Outselling Contemporary Bestsellers

In a year of unsettling cultural stories—from the Ray Rice domestic abuse video to Rob...

books
Holmes for the Holidays: Sherlock in Pastiche

THE ADVENTURE OF THE PLATED SPOON AND OTHER TALES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES — Edited by Loren D...

worldviews
Counterpoint: The Case Against ‘Antique Conservatism’

In a characteristically thoughtful and well-written piece in yesterday’s The American ...

books
Point: The Case for ‘Antique Conservatism’

 I’ll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition is a collection of twelve p...

books
Lister Mystery Novels Available for Free

I've just discovered that a digital edition of three mystery novels by contemporary autho...

movies
‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’: More Spectacle Than Substance

Ridley Scott's film dramatization of the biblical Book of Exodus is ultimately a conve...

movies
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Evokes Return of Carter-Era Malaise

It's difficult to imagine a better choice to replace the great Mel Gibson in the upcoming ...

music
New Dylan Album Will Rework Sinatra Songs

I suppose it didn't actually have to happen, but to me it seems just right: Bob Dylan ha...

television
CBS, NFL Point Way to New Broadcast Paradigm

CBS, long the nation's most popular TV network, has moved strongly into online distribut...

genres
TNT’s ‘The Librarians’ Checks in With Promising Start

The new TNT series The Librarians (Sundays at 9 Eastern) is a continuation of the three...

genres
An Excellent French Film Noir: Melville’s ‘Le Samourai’

Film noir began in the United States around 1940 and continued into the 1950s. It was id...

culture-and-economics
Family Issues Provide Common Cause for Fiscal and Social Conservatives

Practically since the beginning of the modern conservative movement (roughly from the 1950...

uncategorized
Social Promotion: A Classic Big-Government Con Job

Writing in the Chicago Reader, columnist Ben Joravsky makes a provocative point about soc...

mysteries
Acclaimed Crime Drama ‘Foyle’s War’ Returns in February

Here's good news for mystery fans and others who appreciate intelligent TV dramas: Acorn...

manners-and-morals
Ferguson, Bosnia, and Other Tragic Myths

When the Soviet Empire fell apart, between 1989 and 1991, some liberated nations had a dif...

culture101
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Darkly Powerful ‘Day of Wrath’

Carl Theodor Dreyer (1889-1968) is one of the great masters of the cinema, yet his reput...

manners-and-morals
Merry Freaking Christmas! (Now Get Your Hands Off My Stuff)

Regardless of your religious beliefs (if any), almost all of us agree that the Christmas...

journalism
Who’s Responsible for Cosby’s Crimes (If Any)

Since the sickening allegations of Bill Cosby raping numerous women first hit the news, we...

humor-2
Carvey: Entertainment Industry Punishes Political Evenhandedness

It's not news that Hollywood and the entertainment community in general have a strong prog...

omniculture
The Decline and Fall of Relativism

Writing today at The American Culture, Mike D'Virgilio makes some good observations about ...

manners-and-morals
Relativism and ‘Empty Integrity’

Relativism is a funny thing. It is a self-refuting concept: how can there be no truth if t...

mysteries
Netflix Bails Out ‘Longmire’ Fans, Will Run Show’s Fourth Season

The former A&E TV crime-drama series Longmire, cancelled this year, has found a new h...

uncategorized
Twitter vs. Blogs: The Medium Is Still the Message

Writing for our friends across the pond at the Libertarian Alliance (UK), alextantwell arg...

music
Welcoming Giorgio to the Millennial Generation

Good music is good music, and I like to dabble in all kinds of it. Rock, jazz, country, go...

music
Geldof Rats Out Adele

Certainly former rock musician Bob Geldof is to be praised for his charity efforts (as t...

economicspolicy
Think Tanks’ Donor Identities Don’t Matter, but Policy Positions Do

The R Street Institute is a relatively recent arrival in the D.C. think tank world. It adv...