Author: The Archive (The Archive)

water, country heritage. At least I havernknown such a life.rnI am grateful that I was not raised likernsome hothouse flower, living in air-conditionedrnisolation from the naturalrnworld. I was never belted into a minivanrnand catapulted down a highway at 75rnm.p.h. to be delivered by a stressed-outrnand preoccupied driver to the childcarerncenter so both parents could go...

dent with a vendetta against R.J.rnReynolds and other free enterprisers. Myrnpurpose is not yet apparent to me, butrnhas something to do with history andrnpolitics. I am addicted to historical nonfictionrnand neglect housework and otherrnresponsibilities to read. And since I quitrnsmoking, I have come out of the closet. Irnam now proud to call myself a conservative.rnThere...

hardly advances the story. What they dornnot understand is that the story line berndamned; the cameo appearance advancesrnthe portrait of the times and thernnovel. An editor could take a blue pencilrnto this, bat the loss would be the reader’s.rnAnd consider, O’Hara once remarkedrnthat he had invented Frank Sinatrarnin Pal ]oey, written when Sinatra wasrn18, and...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnMichael WashburnrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O.J. Brown, Katherine Dalton,rnSamuel Francis, George Garrett,rnPaul Gottfried, Christine Haynes,rnE. Christian Kopff, /.O. Tate,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, William Mills,rnJacob Neusner, John Shelton Reed,rnMomcilo SelicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C. CarlsonrnPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnPRODUCTION SECRETARYrnAnita CandyrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising...

restrained and scholarly piece” in a collectionrnon teen suicide that “noted thernscholarly consensus that homosexualsrnwere two or three times more likely to killrnthemselves than heterosexuals, a wellsubstantiatedrnfinding.”rnNo doubt Mr. Jenkins’ two sentencesrncan be made vaguely concordant (or atrnleast not so obviously discordant) byrnsome fancy footwork. He could, for example,rnargue that his acknowledgmentrnthat homosexuals have a...

its report on the Defense of MarriagernAct, “Gay couples lose bid for recognition.”rnIt smirked at the impassionedrn”oration” of Senator Robert Byrd ofrnWest Virginia, sounding like a countryrnpreacher in defending the wisdom of fivernmillennia, and commented, favorably itrnseems, on Senator Edward Kennedy forrnsaying that the attached gay rights provision,rnwhich narrowly failed, is the lastrngoal that needs...

bestowed on me and others lifelongrnideas; and once while he was complimentingrnme for something I had published,rnI joked that he was only noticingrnwhat I had cribbed from him. “Go aheadrnand crib more!” was his jovial response.rnThose of us who learned from his genialrnmind will inevitably take that advice, calcandornpassus gigantis.rn—Paul GottfriedrnTERRORISM in France has usuallyrncome—in...

PERSPECTIVErnCabbages and Wormsrnby Thomas FlemingrnUmberto Bossi does not like journalists. His stock epithetrnfor the gentlemen of the press—applied to them almostrnas regularly as “swift-footed” precedes Aehilles—is vermirn(worms), although he sometimes falls back on servi sciochi (idiotrnservants). Not too long ago, at a Lega Nord meeting, Bossirncaught sight of the press corps covering the event and,...

day in western Lombardia, in the south visiting Vigevano andrnthe great Cistercian abbey of Morimondo, and driving north,rnanother day, I go through Gallarate and must have passed by,rnwithout knowing it, the little village of Cassano Magnago, thernhometown qf Umberto Bossi. The land here was once allrnfarms, and all over this part of Lombardia, there are...

In Torino, at the Lega Nord’s headquarters in Piedmont, Irnask the leaders if Maroni—now ostentatiously sporting a neckrnbrace—was not overreacting. On the contrary, I am assured,rnthey have it from friends who were present that the police, afterrnknocking him to the ground, kicked Maroni repeatedly in therngroin, but Bobo is too proud to admit how badly...

They are good kids, mosdy in their 20’s: hardworking, energetic,rnand refusing to accept their nation’s slide into the ThirdrnWodd. For them being a Celt or a Lombard is a means of makingrnKarl Schmidt’s friend/enemy distinction, and they feelrnthemselves more and more alienated from the national regimernand the coalition of gangsters and welfare-dependents who supportrnit. For...

has been estimated at between 30,000 and 40,000. Among thernbeneficiaries of Polish heroism is the American Jewish liberalrnadvocate Abe Foxman. Despite the work by Polish Catholics tornsave his life, I have never seen Foxman or the Anti-DefamationrnLeague he heads challenge the equation of Poles with Nazis.rnThis charge has come from one of Foxman’s close associates...

should be expected even with the current Polonophobia. It wasrnthe Soviets who openly encouraged the brutal revenge on thernGermans, after moving territorial Poland to the west and grabbingrnits eastern lands. Moreover, the Western allies gave in tornthe Soviet plan for a reconstituted Poland, including getting ridrnof Germans from what had been German lands, in the...

radical reeducation.rnA large segment of the left intelligentsia made no bones of itsrnsympathy for the “German Democratic Republic,” which atrnleast did not enslave its subjects to consumerism and thern”elbow society” prevalent in the West. Naturally, there wererncertain excesses, but these could be explained by the pressuresrnissuing from Bonn and Washington. For these intellectuals, thernGDR dictatorship—kept...

lie consciousness?rnMoreover, there is an aspect of Stalinist atrocities that is veryrnpertinent to the “Goldhagen debate.” In their history of thernSoviet Union, Utopia in Power, Mikhail Heller and AleksandrrnM. Nekrich touch on the issue of whether the German peoplernhad full knowledge of the Nazi crimes. They state no opinion.rnBut regarding the Soviets’ murderous war on...

the rope of Abolitionism, and by the 1830’s the antislaveryrnmovement had become a messianic religious crusade. RadicalrnAbolitionist propaganda found its way not only into the literaturernand public oratory of the day, but into juvenile storybooks,rnchurch hymnals, and even almanacs.rnThe milder form of Abolitionism that existed until the latern1820’s in both North and South called for...

The decade of the 1850’s further convinced Emerson that,rnif unchecked, the South’s “slaveocracy” would render NewrnEngland impotent in American politics. Many of his fellowrnNortherners were lured into sympathizing with the South, hernthought, by “the ascendancy of Southern manners.” Alarmedrnat the prospects of Southern political dominance, Emerson discardedrnwhatever objectivity he once may have had and increasedrnthe...

trample it under the heel of our boots. This is the meaning ofrnthe war.” So it was.rnThe sort of destruction laid upon Southerners can be sold tornthe public only if the targets of that destruction are demonizedrnto the point of having their humanity stripped away. They thusrnbecome nonpersons against whom the most vile depredationsrncan be...

well as with the reformist-revolutionary impulse encouraged byrnmany army officers’ contacts with the West in the Napoleonicrnwars, fused in a liberal-radical mindset that proclaimed thatrnRussia had been left outside “history,” that Russia was a barbaricrncountry inhabited by a primitive people who were psychologicallyrnand culturally unable to join Europe (all non-Europeanrncountries and peoples were viewed as...

adopts that model.” All those who oppose—or even criticize—rnthe globalist trinity (liberalism, democratism, consumerism)rnare de facto agents of the Evil One.rnRussian nationalism, then, is something of an impedimentrnto the globalist project, as the Russian right has so long maintained.rnSuch a gigantic chunk of the earth’s surface, such an influentialrnnation, could not be left out of...

In the Yugoslav conflict,rnmisinformation has exceededrnanything ever witnessedrnduring World War II.rnWe now know a great deal about these “Serb” atrocities inrnSarajevo. Jean Daniel, editor of the magazine Le NouvelrnObservateur, in the August 31, 1995, issue under the revealingrntitle, “No more lies about Bosnia,” made an unprecedentedrnconfession: that the Prime Minister at the time of the...

Istanbul synagogue massacre, the devastating series of bombingsrnin Paris, and attempts to blow up Israeli and other Westernrnairliners. That April, President Reagan decided to take a lealoutrnof the Israeli book, and sent aircraft against Libyan targets:rnhe thus followed the “stand tough” strategy advocated by upand-rncoming Israeli diplomat Benjamin Netanyahu. Thoughrnthe Libyans were the most conspicuous...

evidence,” which showed that the Syrians were in fact innocent,rnand the actual culprits were (so conveniently) thernLibyans! Honor could be satisfied, the Syrians mollified, andrnanother atrocity laid at Colonel Qaddafi’s doorstep.rnWho controls the present controls the past; who controlsrnthe past, controls the future. Power gives one the rightrnnot only to determine the messages transmitted in...

goals” as the “good for which all otherrnputative goods must serve as mere tools.”rnAlthough Charles Taylor believes thisrnfulfillment involves “something” thatrn”has significance independent of ourrndesires,” like other communitarians hisrnrelativism compels him to “reject anyrnformulation of” that “something” or ofrn”the goals of life that transcend developmentrnof our individual talents andrncapacities,” In his scheme, then, transcendentrnloyalties “to...

tion, he becomes authentic. By the endrnof his stay, Paul Danvers has learnedrnwhat it means to become “de man of thernfamily” and to “do the right thing”rn(rather than the expedient thing).rnIn Baldwin’s fiction, becoming humanrnmeans learning how to love—becomingrna man means being willing tornkill, when it means defending or protectingrnoneself, or what one loves. This...

Principalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnThe Ruling ClassrnOne of the ironies of American politicalrndiscussion in the last generation or so—rnindeed, of the last century—has beenrnthat, for all our boasting and braggadociornabout being a nation founded on thernproposition that all men are createdrnequal, it is almost impossible to find anyrnsignificant American social thinker whornreally believes it. Power...

most we can have are elites in differentrnfields that are distinct from each otherrnand are often in conflict with each other,rnand while that is not the kind of equalityrnwe would really like or the kind Marx andrnhis Enlightenment forebears chatteredrnabout, it’s close enough, at least as longrnas the elites are reasonably open to newrnmembers and...

CORRESPONDENCErnForeignrnCorrespondencesrnby William MillsrnDown Ecuador Way, Part IIrnPart of the charm of Latin American visualrnarts for me is the absence of extremernpolarities in the continuum anchored byrnfolk art on one end and fine art on thernother. A continuum often seems not tornexist in “First World Countries.” Thernfine art that I saw in Ecuador often containedrnthe themes...

Painter Luigi Stornaiolo.rnwhen he is treating old people, whetherrnthev be hashing out politics in the CafernMadrilon near the Palace, or on a parkrnbench. However, his satire can be ferociousrnwhen directed at other aspects ofrnthe urban scene, like “Miserable Charactersrnon the 5th Floor,” By wav of category,rnsome of his work might be called cartoonrnrealism, yet there...

course full of giggles at the gringo takingrntheir picture. On the wall above their tablesrnwas a mural of Jesus with a veryrnyoung-looking 12 disciples over whichrnwere the words in Spanish, “Give us thisrnday, our daily bread.” The meal wasrnnothing fancy, but was the staple ofrnLatin America, nourishing rice andrnbeans. (Anyone interested in helpingrnthis group may...

Letter FromrnPittsburghrnby Sarah J. McCarthyrnWhite DevilsrnWith a BadgernJonny Gammage died on the night ofrnOctober 12, 1995, in front of Frank andrnShirley’s paneake parlor, just three milesrnfrom my home. Jonny was a black man, arncousin and business partner of PittsburghrnSteeler Ray Seals, and he died inrnthe custody of five white suburban policemenrnwho had pulled him over...

VITAL SIGNSrnSouthern WhiternTrashrnby Margie BurnsrnSurely anyone looking at film with anrneye to understanding American poprnculture or, for that matter, American seriousrnculture, lately, would have to be intriguedrnby the recent spate of “whitetrashrnflicks.” Every season over the pastrnthree years seems to have produced itsrnbrace of movies set in either the South orrna trailer park (often synonyms,...

overt in the recent spate of white-trashrnfilms (trailer parks). Examples run arnshort gamut from Kalifornia to True Romance,rnpartly including Gun Crazy,rnShort Cuts, Flesh and Bone, A PerfectrnWorld, Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Benefitrnof a Doubt, Love and a .45, amongrnothers. If one newspaper headline neverrnseen is “Tornado Skips Trailer Park,” arnVariety headline not seen...

loyalty, and courage in Southern movierncharacters sometimes suggest they’re toorndumb to know any better. Enter ForrestrnGump.rnForrest Gump has abundant similaritiesrnwith another recent white-trashrnmovie not often compared to it: NaturalrnBorn Killers. In both, boy and girl lostrnsouls befriend each other; the Southern/rncracker girls are abused by their fathersrn—in Natural Born Killers, this is sornblatantly a motif...

for one am tired of happy endings transactedrnover the bodies of dead hayseeds,rnbut you cannot make an omelette withoutrnbreaking aigs.rnMargie Burns writes from Cheverly,rnMaryland.rnREGIONALISMrnJ. Evetts Haley-rnCowboy, Patriotrnby Evetts Haley, Jr.rnJ. Evetts Haley.rnHe “was a product, even more thanrnmost men are, of his time, soil andrncircumstance. He was an intent, practicalrnman of driving and determinedrnpurpose…. But...

laire du Berrier, who to this day publishesrna fine newsletter on military intelligencernand political history for his subscribers.rnThere was also BrigadierrnGeneral Bonner Fellers, formerly withrnU.S. Army Intelligence, who was attachedrnto the staff of British Field MarshallrnViscount Montgomery in NorthrnAfrica before our entrance into that costlyrnconflict and about whom PresidentrnRoosevelt said to his Chief of Staff...

sat on the other side of the academicrnfence as a member of the Board of Directorsrnof Texas Technological College,rnappointed by then-governor Allan Shivers.rn(During that same period, GovernorrnShivers also appointed J. Evetts the hrstrnmember from Texas to the foundingrnBoard of Directors of the National CowboyrnHall of Fame and Western HeritagernCenter in Oklahoma City. Twenty-fivernyears later he...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnDust Thou ArtrnSheep Mountain like a fallen tombstonernlay on the horizon under a sky thickeningrnwith gray cloud ribbons and white lenticulars.rnIt was too cold for snow yet andrnrain had not fallen for weeks in thernmountains. The wind raised smallrnstorms of dust on the pale surface of thernclay road, and whirled...

a late dinner inside the canvas army tentrnwith a fire going in the woodstove.rnSomeone gave me something hot to eatrnand Jerry took the mare from mc, sayingrnthat he had plenty of feed to keep herrnwith his horses until the road set up, orrndried out. I drew the saddle off andrnstowed the tack behind the tent,...