By William Murchison - Special to The Washington Times
Robert Peter George has to be one of the most civilized people laboring around these parts to make sense of the muddle we call modern life. The word “civilized” I use in its, shall we say, civilized sense — as marking ownership of, or attachment to, qualities formerly associated with the good life: judgment, propriety, dignity, reasonableness, not to mention old-fashioned common sense. Published June 18, 2013 Comments
By Kyle Peterson - Special to The Washington Times
On one point, Kevin Williamson is almost certainly right: We are headed over the cliff. But halfway through the National Review correspondent’s new book, “The End Is Near and It’s Going to be Awesome,” I began to wonder what the final word of his title is supposed to mean. Published June 17, 2013 Comments
By Steven Mosher - Special to The Washington Times
George Orwell once remarked that we have less sympathy for the 7 million victims of Stalin’s famine in Ukraine and the Caucasus than we do for the dog that we just hit on the road. The dog is an audible yelp and visible carnage: flesh, blood, bone and fur scattered over the highway. The 7,000,000 dead Ukrainians, on the other hand, are just a number. Published June 14, 2013 Comments
By Michael Taube - Special to The Washington Times
Over the course of three days of intense fighting, the Union Army defeated the Confederate States Army on the bloodstained battlefield. It has become widely known as a crucial turning point in this tumultuous period of U.S. history. The loss of human life was extensive, families were torn apart and the country would never be the same again. Published June 13, 2013 Comments
By Paul Davis - Special to The Washington Times
There have been a good number of books written about Boston’s Irish mob boss, Whitey Bulger, and up to now “Black Mass: The Irish Mob, the FBI and a Devil’s Deal” by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill was the best one in my view. But Mr. Lehr and Mr. O’Neill have surpassed themselves with “Whitey.” Published June 13, 2013 Comments
By David Wilezol - Special to The Washington Times
An ancient Greek myth holds that the immortal Prometheus brought fire, a substance exclusive to the gods, to human beings. As punishment, he was forever chained to a rock, where his liver was pecked out by birds. Although Ron Packard did not introduce the computer into the classroom, his company, K12, was founded on the vision of using technology to transform education, and has since grown into the largest provider of online education in the country, delivering services to about 500,000 students. Published June 11, 2013 Comments
By Albin Sadar - Special to The Washington Times
Whenever a serious dilemma arises in America, a debate soon follows. And whoever is able to frame the debate gains the upper hand. For example, abortion is not about taking the life of the unborn, it’s about choice. And marriage is not defined by the formal union of a man and a woman, it’s about equality. Published June 10, 2013 Comments
By Martin Rubin - Special to The Washington Times
There is something especially poignant about posthumously published works. Especially when we know how the author died. Who can read "The Diary of Anne Frank" and not feel an added measure of pathos at her hopefulness in such dreadful circumstances because we know of the infinitely more hideous fate awaiting her after her diary concludes? Published May 29, 2013
By Michael Taube - Special to The Washington Times
Consider this scenario for a moment. It's 1783, and the American Revolutionary War has ended. The scrappy Colonist forces, led by Gen. George Washington, have defeated the odds, beaten Britain and the European powers (France, Spain and the Netherlands) and won independence. Published May 28, 2013
By Joshua Sinai - Special to The Washington Times
In "Invisible Armies," Max Boot attempts to write an up-to-date account of the evolution of guerrilla warfare and terrorism from ancient times to the modern era. Mr. Boot, the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and an adviser on counterinsurgency to the U.S. government, is ideally suited to produce such a comprehensive study. Published May 27, 2013
By Martin Rubin - Special to The Washington Times
This probing but fond memoir is perfectly titled (and subtitled), for it gives us a unique look at one of the 20th century's most distinguished American novelists. There is certainly a lot of heart in Saul Bellow's fiction, but it functions mostly as the organ that makes it possible for him to bleed so profusely when painfully cut. Published May 24, 2013
By Muriel Dobbin - Special to The Washington Times
Fascination with the undead and fear of the supernatural have filtered through the mists of time, and the vampire has become the star of a dark and bloody show still playing in the 21st century. Published May 23, 2013
By John Taylor and John M. Taylor - Special to The Washington Times
Since the first dog warily entered the first cave, the relationship between man and beast has been intriguing to man, and perhaps to beast as well. Published May 22, 2013
By Frank T. Csongos - Special to The Washington Times
In his sweeping, intelligent and enormously ambitious book, British historian Brendan Simms argues that whoever controls Central Europe can dominate the world. Published May 21, 2013
By David Wilezol - Special to The Washington Times
It's not hard to see that the $490 billion higher-education industry is failing America. One study showed that only 45 percent of students demonstrate any cognitive gains by the middle of their sophomore year. Only about 50 percent of students enrolling in a four-year college graduate within six years. Published May 19, 2013
By Marion Elizabeth Rodgers - Special to The Washington Times
The Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald story is well-known. As writer Budd Schulberg observed, its romantic legend is so uniquely American in all its strengths and weaknesses that it is little wonder that the life and work became mythologized. Published May 17, 2013
By Peter Hannaford - Special to The Washington Times
Now 90 years old, William Zinsser has spent his adult life campaigning for clarity of writing which, of course, can only flow from clarity of thought. Nearly 40 years ago, he wrote a book titled "On Writing Well." It has become an essential guide for many a nonfiction writer. That book was inspired by a writing course he taught at Yale in the 1970s. Published May 16, 2013
By Gary Anderson - Special to The Washington Times
A more appropriate title for this book might be "Empire Happens." No British king or minister made a conscious decision to create the greatest empire in history. The imperium was created as a patchwork over the centuries beginning with the subjugation of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Published May 15, 2013
By David DesRosiers - Special to The Washington Times
William J. Bennett and David Wilezol's "Is College Worth It?" asks and authoritatively answers one of life's biggest questions. Published May 14, 2013
By William Murchison - Special to The Washington Times
Eric Metaxas' project here, in limning the notable lives of seven Christian men, is to hold up all seven as models of right behavior and commitment. He senses — well, I mean, how could he not? — that "young men especially need role models. Published May 13, 2013
By Philip Kopper - Special to The Washington Times
It is a brave novelist who opens a book with his heroically obese wine snob, "a vast floodplain of undulating flesh," flopping in marital bliss, with his wife "making that melodious sound that reminded him of mermaids singing in an unintelligible language of a place he had never seen." Published May 10, 2013
By Muriel Dobbin - Special to The Washington Times
It reads more like "The Heart of Darkness," this searing account of life at the top of the television jungle. Published May 8, 2013
