tr;iined and tended plants; pick therngrapes at just the riglit moment; crushrnthem, steep them, rinse them, fermentrndiem, mix them, age them; decant thernwine at just the right moment, for a distilledrndraught of sunlight from a long-lostrnvineyard.rnGlobal: Drink a can of Coke.rnLocal: Spend hours in passionate argumentrnat a cafe, sipping the regional aperitifrnor cordial or wine...

In The Darkrnhy George McCartneyrnDetails, DetailsrnLike God and the Devil, films revealrnthemselves in the details. Pluck a scenernat random, examine it closely, and you’llrnbe able to forecast the rest of the movie’srnmerit with remarkable accuracy.rnTake director Lars von Trier’s Dancerrnin the Dark. It tells the tale of Selmarn(Bjork, the Icelandic singing star) who isrnsuffering from...

infused with the same sickly sentimentalityrnthat pervades the rest of the film. Duringrnher bizarre danee number followingrnBill’s death, Bjork sings a song featuringrnthis touching refrain: “The time it takesrnfor a tear to fall is all the time it takes tornforgive me.” I can’t agree: This tendentiousrnbathos is unforgivable.rnUnlike Dancer in the Dark, RodrnLurie’s The Contender...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, JrrnA Happy Hunting GroundrnThe alarm clock went off in the dark. Inrnthe light of the electric lantern, frost glitteredrnon shadowed nylon walls. The insidernzipper stuck; after a few futile tugs Irnescaped through the mouth of the mummvrnbag. I had on long Johns, wool socks,rnand a wool shirt; but the predawn...

The road ran through several clearcutsrnbefore I recognized the one we werernsearching for when, looking uphill, Irnmade out the dip in the tree line that indicatedrnthe saddle I’d crossed over thernday before. I reined the horse to the left,rnoffroad into the crusted snow where wernsounded like Napoleon’s army on the retreatrnfrom Russia.rn”No good,” Dick said....

CHRONICLES’ BACK ISSUES, TAPES, AND BOOKSrn2000 in ReviewrnOLD TIME RELIGION: TRADITION & FUNDAMENTALS—December 2000—rnThomas Heming charts the path from tradition to annihilation, Harold O.J. Brown examinesrnthe tension between revelation and tradition, Philip Jenkins predicts the hiture of traditionalrnChristianity, and Steven Wilkins explains how the American South kept covenantrnwith God. Plus Alberto Carosa on the life...

Four Romes: One Eternal CityrnHP^^PIrnBir^^’^lflfr “t/MrnM^^f^^R^^rn^HilHB^^^Si^HLrn'” .•^^- Crn^’.rn* » « ^rnfrnJoinrnChronicles editors Thomas Fleming, ChiltonrnWilliamson, Jr., Srdja Trifkovic, and Andrei Navrozov,rnalong with architectrnDr. James Patrick, founder and provost of thernCollege of Saint Thomas More,rnand Italians . . .rnjournalist Alberto Carosa,rntheologian Roberto de Mattei, andrnreactionary political insider Marco RespintirnforrnThe Rockford Institute’s first Convivium of the (real)...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnEXECUTIVE EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnJeffrey Thomas KuhnerrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIGNERrnMelanie AndersonrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnPhilip Jenkins, ].0. Tate, MichaelrnWashburn, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnJanet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnDonald Livingston, William Mills,rnWilliam Murchison, AndreirnNavrozov, Jacob NeusnerrnFILM EDITORrnGeorge McCartneyrnFOREIGN AFFAIRS EDITORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnLEGAL AFFAIRS EDITORrnStephen B. PresserrnRELIGION EDITORrnHarold O.J. BrownrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnCIRCULATION...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnTHE SERBS, after a decade of beingrntreated as the designated demons of Europe,rnwere, in the first week of October,rntransformed by Western media andrnpohticians into a nation of Walesas andrnHavels. The ethnic cleansing and massrnrape stories were gone, replaced by thosernof freedom, democracy, and gallantry. AsrnMatthew Parris remarked in the Times ofrnLondon, “We love themAVe...

How easy it was for Bill Clinton tornbomb innocent civilians in Serbia and torndevastate all those warlords hiding out inrnaspirin factories and milk plants inrnEthiopia and Sudan! It was a cinch, especiallyrnfrom 30,000 feet: quick, clean,rnand legal. Make it simple enough, andrnkilling’ s a snap. Stealth, slick marketing,rnand good timing make it easy to swallow,rnjust...

the Church.” Of course, they don’t mindrndramas or Cliristian rock during the worshiprnservice. But Rowling’s books haverntouched a nerve in Enghsh Christendom;rnHke Halloween, Harry Potter hasrnbecome a symbol of the latent New Age,rnneo-occultist movement, waiting to devourrnthe children of the kingdom.rnAmerican Christians have been onrnone distracting crusade after anotherrnsince the days of temperance and Prohibition.rnOf...

had forced the delay in the Russian-rnMoldovan talks because of concerns overrna plan (advanced by former RussianrnPrime Minister Yevgeni Primakov) torntransform Moldova into a confederahon,rnleaving the Moldovan state intact whilerngranting the Dniester region autonomy.rnUnder the American initiative, however,rnRussia would carry out a phased withdrawalrnof the 14th Army, financed by thernOSCE.rnThe Primakov plan, which appears tornbe...

who dared to question his assertions.rnWhich is all to say that Berger was human,rnrather than divine. He was writingrnvigorously until almost the end, and itrnwas still pretty damn good. Berger wasrnone of the few writers who could successfullyrndemand that student law-review editorsrnrefrain from changing any of his text,rnand you angered him at your peril. Ifrnthere...

PERSPECTIVErnHand-Me-Down Truthrnby Thomas FlemingrnIn 1912, a group of Oxford fellows began meeting to work outrna minimalist common creed that would be acceptable to allrnChristians. William Temple, future archbishop of Canterbury,rnwas the guiding spirit of the group, which argued its way downrnto an inoffensive consensus entitled Foundations. The OxfordrnSeven ended up setting aside miracles, the Resurrection...

In liturgical questions, Luther was eonser’atie. He advocatedrna Cleruian Iass for those who needed it, but he also wantedrnto retain the Latin Mass as the highest expression of Christianrnliturg’. He did not do away with altars or clerical vestments,rnand he expressed resentment that the “de il” in Rome shouldrnget all the good music. Over a...

manuscript; others have been scliolars who thought they knewrnenough grammar and meter to correct fault}’ texts. The resultsrnof these conjectural emendations are not always encouraging.rnR.D. Dawe, looking back over the 70 years of Aeschylean scholarshiprnthat preceded his Repertory of Conjectures, concluded:rn”The quality of conjectures is not such as to encourage thernthought that of all nature’s...

the Roman Catholic Church entrenclied itself behind tradition,rnto the point that it formally recognized two sources of revelation,rnScripture and tradition. Catholics proclaimed this viewrnwith zeal in the 16th and succeeding centuries, although theyrnhave somewhat toned it down in our ecumenical age.rnThis understanding of tradition has been the standardrnCatholic position from the Counter-Reformation Council ofrnTrent up...

purpose for which he instituted the Supper—for Communion,rnnot adoration. Lutherans preserved or subsequently revived sornmueh Catholie tradition in their hturgical practice tiiat, afterrntlie Second Vatican Council, many Lutheran altars look morernlike traditional Catholic altars than the modified Communionrntables the Catholics began to install. Indeed, the willingness ofrnmany Lutherans and Anglicans to imitate Catholic liturgicalrn[Datterns in...

And while Africa and Latin America grow, European populationsrnwill contract steadily: The fifteen nations of the EuropeanrnUnion combined will shrink by about a sixth over the next 50rnyears. Some countries, such as Italy and Spain, will be losingrnpeople so fast as to raise doubts about their continued existencernas organized societies. Even in terms of formal...

tian doctrine. And while many Western Christians find it diSicultrnto accept notions of the afterHfe or resurrection as Hterallyrntrue, these tlieories resonate with Afi-ican independent churches.rnThe fact that believers regularly see their ancestors inrndreams and visions is simply proof that thev are still alive inrnCod. hi the affairs of this world, too, the ideal of...

faith. As the North increasingh’ drifted from the Bible, thernSouth was becoming the “Bible Belt.”rnAs the 19th century began, the South was one of the mostrn”unchurched” regions of the country. By the 1830’s, however,rnit had become a hotbed of evangelicalism. Historians haverncalled this revival the “Second Great Awakening.” Most of thernattention has focused on the...

diversity, and vice versa.rnConsequently, Southern men understood the importance ofrnminding their own business. The officious, busybody attitudernof New England was not tolerated. Following Scripture, menrncared for their neighbors, but they knew there were certainrnthings that are none of your concern, and you need to resist therntemptation to run other people’s lives.rnBy contrast, unitarian and atheistic...

Reactionary RadicalsrnRADICAL REACTIONARIESrnA Politically Incorrect BeatificationrnThe Saga of Pope Pius IXrnby Alberto CarosarnFew people have been so hated tliat their enemies have chsruptedrntheir hineral processions in an attempt to throwrntheir eofBns into a river, but that is preeiseK’ what happened tornPope Pins IX on the night of Jnly 12, 1881.’rnAmid the heated debate snrrounding Pio...

pal States were not allowed to employ Cliristian servants, not onrnantiscniitic gronnds but preeiscly to avoid the types of problemsrnraised by the Mortara case. F^or Pins IX to endure what he didrnfor the sake of one child, knowing the international storm hernwould unleash, he must have had a compelling reason. To putrnit blunth, he was...

beatification of Pius IX and what the organizers fear may be thernbeginning of a Catholic revival, did not draw more than 50 people.rnA similar demonstration on September 20 drew a largerrncrowd: About 100 people rallied to celebrate the 130th anniversaryrnof the breach of Porta Pia, the hole in the city’s wallsrnthrough which the Piedmontese troops...

The Blue Island Log of Herman Gillrnby Brendan GalvinrnSepias of an old winter: a man standingrnfull height under a berg like a grottorndeposited on the beach, behind himrnthe marshes a frieze of no color,rnspiky with terrors, and a northwest windrnyou can almost hear in the photo.rnHe is Herman Gill, keeper of Blue IslandrnLighthouse. After months...

CHRONICLES INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENTrnThe Serbs and the Westrnby Srdja TrifkovicrnAthousand editorialists have described Vojislav Kostunica,rnYugoslavia’s new president, as a “moderate nationalist.” Inrnfact, Kostunica is no more “nationalistic” than Jacques Chiracrnor Vaclav Havel. He is a self-described Serbian patriot, who saysrnhe wants for his people no more —and certainly no le-ss —thanrnhe is prepared to grant to...

CHRONICLES’ BACK ISSUES, TAPES, AND BOOKSrnOn ChristianityrnCHRISTOS Y2K: CHOOSE YOUR MILLENNIUM—December 1999—ThomasrnFleming on the new religions of dinosaurs, AIDS, and race, Philip Jenkins onrnhow Matthew Shepard replaced Jesus Christ, and Harold O.J. Brown on the comingrnof the Third Age. Plus Jeffrey Meyers on traveling through Jamaica, Janet Scott Barlowrnon the New York Times and compassion,...

“All the NewsrnUnfit to Print” ignsJ of tlje Wimt^rnVol. 2 No. 12 December 2000rnAs Slobodan Milosevic fought for hisrnpolitical life in Belgrade, Secretary ofrnState Madeleine Albright condemned himrnand expressed support for his oppositionrn—while at the same time acting as ifrnthe State Department would do everythingrnin its power to help Milosevic survive.rn”Kostunica not Clinton administration’srnman,” reported...

c a l l s for any country to handrnhim over to The Hague. We expectrnthe indictment to be followed,rn” he said. Asked howrnP u t i n ‘ s offer to mediate couldrntake shape if the moment Milosevicrnshowed up he would facerne x t r a d i t i o n to The...

progress was quite different from that ofrnthe self-serving neoconservatives whornmade tlie short and safe journey fromrnStahnism to Trotskyism, while denouncingrnthe friends and relatives who were capablernof loyalty, at least, to Uncle Joe.rnMurray’s mother seems to have been, atrnworst, a sentimental liberal, and his father,rnDavid Rothbard, was, as Raimondorndescribes him, a man who had brokenrnout of...

Principalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnThe Constitution, R.I.P.rnOn July 22 of this year, the Washingtonrn’limes pubhshed, as the weekly installmentrnof its “Civil War” section, a long articlernby a gentleman named MackubinrnThomas Owens, described as “professorrnof strategy and force planning” at thernNaval War College in Newport, RhodernIsland, under the headline, “Secession’srnapologists gut Constitution, history.”rnThe burden of the...

States evolves from an elitist republic intorna democracy ‘of the people, by the people,rnfor the people.'” Professor Fletcher’srnview is almost identical to that of ProfessorrnJaffa and his disciples on the “right,”rnexcept that they claim that Lincoln merelyrnrestored the real Constitution. ProfessorrnMacPherson argues much the samernas Professor Fletcher, that Lincoln was arn”revolutionary statesman” who presidedrnover the...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Texasrnby Wayne AllensworthrnApocalypse NowrnWe are flying amid flufiy, white cottonballrnclouds that reach above us to tremendousrnheights, forming darker mountainrnpeaks lined with crevices and tinged byrnthe pinkish-orange glow of the settingrnsun. My six-year-old daughter, eyes widernin innocent fascination, whispers, “Is thisrnwhere God lives?”rn”Even higher,” I answer.rn”But His angels are here,” she asserts.rn”Maybe.”rnMaybe. I am...

who has the ner’e to talk back to them,rnbut the poHce, under orders not to interferernwith the “demonstration,” do nothing.rnOnly whites are capable of “hate,” afterrnall. A patrolman tells my folks thatrnthere is widespread anger in the ranks, butrnno one knows what to do about it.rnThe house my father built back in thernmid-50’s now has...

scrupulous foreigner ogling their palazzirnon the Grand Canal (“What if it was yourrnhouse?!”). And so on down to the finalrnscene, in which the jester discovers hisrndaughter felled hy the vengeful blow hernhad sought to direct at her presumed seducer:rnGildal Mia Gildal… E mortal…rnAh, la indkdizione!rn(Strappandosi i capelli, cade sid cadavererndella figlia.)rnAh, die curse! (And, tearing...

be laicized.rnThe priest bowed to the discipHne ofrnhis order. The nun, however, flouted herrninstructions, tefling reporters that the gagrnorder was “a violation of the basic humanrnright to self-defense.” She added, “Thernpart that I think is particularly unfair is tornsay to someone, ‘You are forbidden tornspeak about this experience.’ How elsernare we to grow as a...

boring Serbia on the rule of law and thernadvantages of economic integration withrnother Balkan states.rnBoth Prime Minister Racan and PresidentrnMesic are openly pro-European.rnTheir task is easier than it may seem: Allrnof Europe (both East and West) is nowrnruled by recycled leftists and former communistrnfellow travelers, supported byrnglobal plutocrats. Contrary to the claimsrnof many conservatives, Croatia’s...

his stripes simply by declaring himself arndisciple of global democracy.rnAll postcommunist countries, includingrnCroatia, committed a fatal error inrn1991: They did not immediately undertakernthe radical process of decommunizationrnand re-education. But they alsorndid not examine the essence of the onlyrnforceful alternative at hand: Western liberalism.rnTomislav Sunk writes from Croatia. Hisrnmost recent book is Cool Croatia (VineyardrnBooks).rnLetter From...

VITAL SIGNSrnHISTORYrnPietas and thernSouthern Agrariansrnby Thomas LandessrnPietas—the ancient virtue of respectrnfor family, country, and God—is becomingrnincreasingly difficult to practicernin a nation driven half mad by guilt. Ourrnnation’s past, once uncritically revered, isrnnow uncritically condemned. Familiesrnare regarded as breeding pens of bigotry.rnAnd God is forever sticking His nose intornareas where He does not belong, showingrnup at...

ther this essay nor any intelligent personrnthat I know in the South desires a literalrnrestoration of the old Southern life, evenrnif that were possible; dead days are gone,rnand if by some chance they should return,rnwe should find them intolerable.”rn•I’ll Take My Stand is “utopian.” Anrnentire thesis was written on this misconception,rndespite the fact that the...

ate deception by employing a shibbolethrnto win the uninformed and unthinking tornthe support of a sinister undertaking.”rnThe “sinister undertaking” to whichrnhe refers is the transformation of the federalrngovernment into an agent for Northernrnindustrial interests at the expense ofrnSouthern agricultural interests. Whilernslavery was one economic factor in thisrnpower grab — which ultimately led tornwar—Owsley cites several...

Stand, the American political, religious,rnand social experience largely stemmedrnfrom Puritan New England. In thernhands of the divines, the “Puritan ethic”rnwas incorporated into the American understandingrnof politics.rnThe New England ethic eventuallyrndeveloped into a civil theology which accordedrnspecial status to the Americanrnregime. America was regarded as thern”New Israel,” a providential gift offered tornthe world, a city on...