Author
Why should we still read (and write like) Orwell?
The “Great Ideas” series from Penguin Books has done fledgling intellectuals a huge favor by making great nonfiction authors available in accessible and reasonably priced chapbooks. Ideas do matter: They lead to debate, dissent, destruction, death, and the divine. And true ideas matter most of all. George Orwell’s “Why I Write” is a worthy addition […]
How to run a country: Cicero gives us 10 Lessons for modern leaders | Opinion
“I seem to read the history of all ages and nations in every page — and especially the history of our country for forty years past. Change the names and every anecdote will be applicable to us.” — John Adams on Middleton’s “Life of Cicero” Marcus Tullius Cicero was marginalized in the Roman senate. Frustrated without real […]
A rabble rouser gets the boot | Column
In a recent essay in The Atlantic, the historian Anne Applebaum called out cultural institutions like universities, newspapers, foundations, and museums as “The New Puritans.” “Heeding public demands for rapid retribution, they sometimes impose the equivalent of lifetime scarlet letters on people who have not been accused of anything remotely resembling a crime. Instead of […]