Review: Comanche Empire
The Comanche Empire by Pekka Hämäläinen This excellent book does what modern history is supposed to do nowadays: it gives a voice to the voiceless and the marginalized; it gives agency to the victims. And yet you can’t always predict what will happen when you go around handing out agency to historical groups like the powerful Comanches of the 18th–19th centuries. When you give agency to people, you are compelled to acknowledge their faults and not just their strengths. This book demonstrates...
Answering a Question about Political Philosophy
A friend asked me for my thinking—and my reading recommendations—on Christian political philosophy. I was pretty frank and open. I don't hold myself up as a master of the topic. I welcome input from others here. What should I read? What should my friend read? My leading light here is Jonathan Leeman. You've already read his popular-level book How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age; have you read his academic treatise, Political Church: The Local Assembly as...
Review: Means of Ascent
Means of Ascent by Robert A. CaroMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is positively monumental. How does Caro do it? Well, I know how he does it. I read his book on the topic. He does it with a lot of hard and humble work (and some excellent help from his wife). I was enthralled by Caro's depiction of Coke Stevenson, and as soon as his qualities started becoming evident (which was at a very young age), I knew just what story arc Caro was planning. He was going to set up the honest man (Stevenson)...
Authorized Documentary Freely Available on YouTube!
The Authorized infotainment documentary (emphasis on the -tainment, though I hope the info is good!) is now up on YouTube for free to everyone! This is kinda big! For some time it has been behind a paywall on FaithlifeTV. This project was one of the great privileges of my life, including getting to interview my hero John McWhorter in New York City in the basement of some random building (that's Columbia University, where he teaches, in the background). I'd really like to see this video reach...
Review: Think Again by Stanley Fish
Think Again: Contrarian Reflections on Life, Culture, Politics, Religion, Law, and Education by Stanley FishMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I have read multiple Stanley Fish books; I read quite a number of these columns when they were originally published in the New York Times. I go to Fish for precisely the value he describes in his farewell essay: In the columns that provoked frustration, I stopped short of offering the “I believe X” part, leaving readers to wonder where I stood. I tried to stand on...