About thenChronicles of CultttrenThe JRockford College Institute presents annew publication entitled Chronicles ofnCulture. It will feature reviews of booksncredited with an impact on the currentncultural scene, and provide viewpoints thatnare usually eliminated from the literarynmarketplace, or silenced by the LiberalnEstablishment that runs the media.nWe, at the Rockford College Institute,nbelieve that culture is, more than ever, thenbreeding ground of formative factors: itnengenders attitudes, lifestyles, exemplars,nit abounds with archetypes and modes ofnconduct that create a social atmosphere innwhich human destinies are formed. We alsonbelieve that books, especially novels, stillnexert an influence on the society and on thenindividual. We know, too, that the success ofna book in America depends on the criticalninterpretation and acclaim, and we knownthat all the manipulative power today is innthe hands of liberal critics, reviewers andnpromoters. We know, finally, that thenselling of a book has little to do with itsnobjective worth and even less with its socialnand moral utility. The Chronicles of Culturenintends, therefore, to supply a valueorientedncriticism which is banned from thenpages of The New York Times, Publisher’snWeekly, and The New York Review ofnBooks by the liberal bigotry, orthodoxy andnfashion.nThe Chronicles of Culture brings thennational bestseller list to the attention andnscrutiny of the middle-class readers. Wenassume that a large part of that audiencenunChronicles of Culturennnhas a good education and developed minds.nOur effort is designed to kindle their interestnin culture, for, regardless of whatnthey wish to know or ignore, they live withncultural events and their consequences.nThese events reappear at their dinnerntables either directly in conversations, ornthrough opinions, poses, and manners theirnown family and friends adopt under thenpressures of the communication industry.nThe middle-class reader, who happens to bena businessman, finds literary reviews innThe Wall Street Journal, as that papernkeeps track of cultural facts: however, itndoes it from an eclectic and morally uncommittednpoint of view, looking for neutralnqualifications. We want to show thenthoughtful businessman another perspectiven— namely how a book, its meaningnand success, affects his life, his economicnactivity and his sense of social order whichnis indispensable to carry out these activities.nThe lopsided view of the arts, along withnthe current “anything goes” posture towardnsubject matter, has produced a body ofnworks whose offensiveness is only surpassednby its shallowness. The modernnliberal reviewer tacitly obliterates a wholenrealm of natural and human norms by theirnomission which renders his critiques notnonly inadequate, but potentially harmful tonthe reader. We feel that there is a need fornanswers to all who judge cultural offeringsnby blinking the effects of messages that arencut off from any moral code.n