Category: Imported

10 / CHRONICLESnRansom have been expanded upon by such diverse writersnas Jacques Ellul, Richard Weaver, and Wendell Berry. Butnin the declining years of the 20th century, it seems lessnlikely than ever that Western man will have the wits tonreclaim his inheritance.nWe have invested so much of our self-esteem into thenmaterial signs of progress that we...

The toofr that coatimms to IK a cen&a/nrefefence ia a great flaf/ona/tfebale—n/?/cbaitf John Neuhaia^s best-selliog aiKay^nof fe//9/0fl aotf tfefflociacir /o /Imeifca.nThe Naked Public SquarenD/rector of The RocMbrtf Instttute’s Center onnBellgion&Societv,Neuhaus challenges Americantohringthevitalmoralaniliellglousiiuestlonsnhacklntothe “nuhllcsnuare.”nFrom the critics:n• “The book is elegant in execution and sweeping in scope.”n• “A large and sympathetic book, it stretches the mind.”n—Michael Scully,...

of the poem is always brightened by a dehberate andnartificial appeal to the myth of the Golden Age, the didacticnpassages are carefully informed by the best scientific knowledgenof the time.nBut that may have been a necessary mistake. Nothingnquaintifies so quickly as scientific knowledge, and ourncentury, which has deceived itself into believing that itnactually knows something...

14 / CHRONICLESnAnd may the lovely Muses first of alln(Whose priest I am, love-struck by poetry)nAeeept me; show me the roads of heaven, the stars.nThe various solar eclipses, works of the moon,nEarthquakes, what forces make the high seasnSwell and ruin the shores and once againnFall back, and why the suns of winter hastennTo dive into...

POLITICS, HISTORY, CULTUREnRemembering Who We ArenObservations of a Southern ConservativenM. E. Bradfordn”Bradford is rapidly emerging as one of the most importantnintellectual leaders of the American right”—Washington Times.n”Bradford is a formidable champion of order, custom, constitution,nconvention, prescription. . . . We need to pay attentionnto him as the bicentenary of the Constitutionnapproaches”—Russell Kirk, Chronicles of Culture....

found in the Decrees this or that rash assertion, theynanswered, as a rule, that they could not cite it verbatim, butnthat it “expressed the spirit of Vatican II.” (The same tricknhas often been played with the “spirit of the Bible.”)nThe two terms that helped in spreading the GreatnConfusion globally and locally were “The Opening to...

181 CHRONICLESncally extolled in Catholic education. This political doctrine,nsooner or later, was bound to have its effect on thenoutlook of the Catholic Church in America.nAlexandre Vinet, the Reformed Swiss theologian, warnednus ages ago that in a synthesis of Christianity and democracy,nthe latter would finally devour the former. Little was itnrealized that, psychologically, there yawned an...

nothing about his talent been reprimanded for not having itninvested with the bankers, TOIS TRAPEZITAIS?)nIn the United States, priests were not educated at thengreat universities, as they are in the heart of Europe, but innseminaries whose horizon did not materially transcend anone-sided theology and a certain amount of philosophy.nThere was no art education, as testified...

20 / CHRONICLESnlast American Catholics can jump on the bandwagon of allnpopular causes and show to an astonished world that thisnweird, odd, exotic, “un-American” dago-religion can beneminendy useful, nay, that it can serve “progress.”nSome of the new theologians have tried to remain withinnthe boundaries set by the Gospels and have merely misinterpretednthem. It has been...

tional establishments. The rebelhon finally combined aspectsnof misandry with a new political agenda, and politicsnis, besides the penal system, the scene of mankind’s mostnobvious and most painful failures. To make matters worse,nthe political vision now invoked is the sort of democracynrevived by the French Revolution after a gap of 2,000 years.nViewed with horror by the...

is thought of as “Western” ranching.nThe South of the late antebellumnperiod was prosperous and stable. ThenSouthern population, includingnblacks, except in the less developednareas, lived snugly in rough abundance,ncontent with the Jeffersoniannideal of independence and relativelynimmune from the tremendous religiousnand economic stresses of modernizationnbeing endured by Northernnsociety. During the panic of 1857,nwhen Northern banks and mercantilenhouses...

241 CHRONICLESnpublic and more permanent system ofnwelfare was needed. However, I amnnot sure that the evidence presentednproves the point. To begin with, thenrural and urban problems of the Depressionnwere different. It is not at allnself-evident that a welfare system designednfor industrial relief was the bestnanswer to rural distress.nWoodruff’s treatment falls into anrecognizable genre of liberal...

More important, the novel raises questionsnwhich have disturbed sensitivencritics over the past decade or so; Whyndoes even the best-written, most ambitious,nand well-crafted of contemporarynliterature seem “minor”? Why hasnno literary voice emerged to capturenindelibly whatever soul is left in contemporarynWestern culture? And whatnare the implications of this failure—nwhether of the imagination or of thenculture it would...

ing alone with his spinster sister andnthe ghosts of his own guilt. Before thenmurder, Dr. Heme had been a patriciannpatron to local black youths. Onenof his proteges, ironically named RooneynLee, now dominates the doctor’snlife by forcing him to submit to flagellationnby Rooney’s wife. Hux takesnadvantage of a religious vulnerabilitynin Heme’s sister to pose as an...

the creed granted imprimatur from thensynagogue of St. Marx. Any delEcienciesnThe Southern Redneck may exhibitnin terms of what C. Wright Millsncalled the “sociological imagination”nis more than compensated for by thenauthors’ deftness at what might bendescribed, with slight apology to Mills,nas the sociological hallucination.nIt is not that the authors are badnpeople, nor bearers of unwelcomennews. Indeed,...

301 CHRONICLESnism that existed in the South duringnthe 1930s appears to be dead.”nShow me a Jeeter Lester prototypenwho has even heard of Jerry Falwelln(albeit his grandmother may watchnhim on TV), much less have thencerebral capacity to make commonncause with Moral Majority initiatives,nand I’ll show you a rare individual. Anbaseline redneck female who quotesnMarabel Morgan, Darien...

32 / CHRONICLESnmeliorist, and anticommunist. By discreditingnthis popular and well-knownnliberal activist, Cummings intends tondestroy any residual faith in the prospectsnfor nonrevolutionary change.nLiberalism, he insists, must makenroom for “radicalism,” a political ideologynthat includes, but is not restrictednto, communism.nAlthough Lowenstein was not thenmost illustrious liberal of his time, henwas certainly the most ubiquitous. Asnleader of the National...

disciples. Or so we are told. Cummingsndoes not cite a source, even annanonymous one. Instead, he identifiesnseveral “friends” who, after somenprompting, “speculate,” “believe,”n”hint,” and hear from “the grapevine”nabout Lowenstein’s homosexuality.nAppropriately, he concludes with “anhowler,” remarking that Lowensteinnknew that he was—how to put it?—soninclined, “but he didn’t spend muchntime wrestling with it.”nSo eager is Cummings to...

341 CHRONICLESnprofessors who do not wish to give sonmuch as tlie appearance of being outnof step with the times; and 60’s radicalsnwho claimed immunity for their lawbreakingnby virtue of their opposihonnto the war in Vietnam.nHaving done time at the UnitednNations, Berns is also instructive onnthe inanities of pacifism and on Russiannshamelessness. And he presents ancoherent...

tiPls^^PVi^^’S-.- .nr -Jf.nperhaps taken one too man)- trips tonMoscow.nIn a chapter on “Assumptions andnPerceptions,” Bialer writes: “UnHke thenNazis, the Soviets do not want war withntheir adversaries. They do not propagandizenor glorify offensive military actionnas the means by which to achieventheir international goals.” If Afghanistan,nCzechoslovakia, Hungary, andnthose annual November military paradesnthrough Red Square do not evidencena...

40 / CHRONICLESnLetter FromnWisconsinnby David TillotsonnDan Rather’s Troubled LandnIf it did nothing else, the farm depressionnof the mid-80’s has demonstratednthat our current agricultural leadershipnis simply not quick enough to dealnwith all the monkey wrenches in anpolitician’s tool box. This is not surprising,nsince farm people are used tonwaiting and adjusting to growing seasons,nto slower things, while...

It’s the weather in Brazil andnArgentina; Soviet and Asianngrain buying sehedules; thenGreen Revolution and thenshrinking gene pool.nIt’s Common Market subsidiesnfor European farmers whonexport to the U.S.nIt’s the obligation to practicenconservation on the land—tonbe a steward as well as an”bottom line” believer. It’s thenRalph Nader scare tacticsnwhich scare the hell out ofnconsumers.nIt’s the chemical andnagribusiness companies...

42 / CHRONICLESnand stories and articles, doctoral theses,nnewspapers. . . . Why, this verynarticle will be read by only 2.78 percentnof the people for whom it isnintended! And think of all the privatencommunications and the diaries, deskndrawers, trunks, and warehouses fullnof words that will never find a publisher.nThey add up to one thing: hardntimes for...

effect produced by an entire book ofnMcGonagall’s verse. It is all dreadful.nI swear to you that I have just nownopened at random to this stanza, fromna lengthy account of the Johnstownnflood:nThe pillaging of the houses innJohnstown is fearfulnto describe,nBy the Hungarians and ghouls,nand woe betidenAny person or party thatninterfered with them,nBecause they were mad withndrink,...

441 CHRONICLESncially LA and New York) that arenchaotic and violent, while our ruralncommunities live in comparativenpeace and order, the peace of thenproperty owner, the natural order ofnthe seasons. The born-and-bred citydwellernfeels, no doubt naturally,nmore at home in the city than in thencountry. It is hard for him to noticenthe normal, and he is struck by...

Women take turns in giving thanks innJessica Lange’s Country, significantly,nsince the men in the movie are eithernold or broken by their lack of capitalistnsuccess. In River Sissy Spacek has hernchildren thank Sun and Earth for theirnfood, the single phoniest scene in anmovie reeking with phoniness. A list ofnreasons for success and failure couldnbe lengthened, but...

46 / CHRONICLESnhad French horns but no fiddles. Steelnguitars were as rare as yodeling cowboys,nand what the hell was going on?nWhatever it was, it worked. The folksnresponsible for the “product” hadnlearned that the more they junked upncountry music—that is, the more likenpop they made it sound while stillninsisting it was country—the widernwas its appeal. (Wider,...

question, Would Kitty Wells sport antattoo? No, but it doesn’t much matter.nWillie Nelson’s image is no morensignificant than, say, Porter Wagoner’snwhen Porter, his Nudie suit aglitter,nhis mystique nonexistent, gives hisnhonest hillbilly best on “Fve Enjoyednas Much of This as I Can Stand.”nWillie and Porter are two versions ofnthe same lesson: When the sound isntrue, style...

48 / CHRONICLESnmidnight and would lead a spectator tonbelieve that at least half of America isnunemployed, the other half independentlynwealthy. Nor is it irrelevant tonnote that this new theater is decidedlynself-conscious and amoral.nThough it undoubtedly has referencesnwhich a cultural scientist couldntrace back to the stages of Attica orneven earlier, a more direct harbingernfor this revolutionary...

documentary.nIn his dinner witti avant-garde theaterndirector Andre Gregory, Shawnncame across as the pragmatist to Gregory’snhardened ideahst. The plot wasnconfined to their meeting for dinner atnan “expensive” restaurant; but undernthe circumstances, the very idea of an:”plot” was obhterated, replaced, ornengulfed by the conversation they hadninstead. The theme of their discussionnis the nature and quality of theater...

the inherent hazards of influence. Atnthe end of Lemon’s initial monologue,nshe claims, “To me what matters reallynis the people you knew, the things younlearned from them, the things thatninfluenced you deeply and made younwhat you are.”nIn the larger sense, the entire play isnmerely a demonstration of Aunt Dan’sninfluence over Lemon, which the audienceninfers can represent...

on that canvas—the Empire couch,nthe pearly landscape, and especiallynthe tiny bearded man wearing a bowlernhat who stands by his easel painting anself-portrait—make one smile an inwardnand disarmed smile. The work isnfar from finished, but the figure isnalready vying with the nudes of Rubensnand Ingres. But just as soon as itsnbeauty has spoken, another voicenchimes in....

Murray…has finallynand unanswerablyndemolished both thenmoral and thenpractical claims ofnthe welfare state**n-GEORGE GILDER, The American SpectatornThis breakthrough book is making conservatives purr and liberals squirm.n”Murray’s book, relentlessly logical and well-documented,nshould convince any serious reader that it must at least bensquarely faced.. . . The heart of the book, the best and mostndevastating part, is a long...

6/CHRONICLESnThe Oscar would have appealed tonLord Melbourne. Like the Order ofnthe Garter, it “has no demn’d meritnabout it.” The rest of us have problems.nThe more prestigious awards, fornbest actor or director or movie, arenunpredictably awarded on the basis ofnpopularity (popularity in Hollywood,nthat is, not at the box office), lifetimenachievement, and relevance to “popular”n(i.e., elite) causes....

old buddies. There are worse things.nFriendship, after all, is a virtue. Butnfriendship alone cannot save the industrynfrom its doldrums. Only a commitmentnto excellence in art and thennormal in ethics can do that. The lastnOscar show had a message. I wonder ifnanybody was listening. (ECK)nPoliticians and gangsters may soon benas difficult to tell apart in Midwesternnstatehouses...

8/CHRONICLESnPERSPECTIVEnOLD ADAM, NEW EVE by Thomas FlemingnFeminist writers sometimes give us the impression thatnthe nonworking mother is a rare bird hke the Bachman’snWarbler—sighted (not very reliably) once a decade ornso in a corner of Ton Swamp in the South Carolina lowcountry.nThe ladies magazines do occasionally report onnrumors that some professional women like Janet Fallowsnhave taken...

women who write such stuff always seem to look like theynhave just come from Little League tryouts? There must be anrule that specifies all feminist academies shall cut off theirnhair and wear only jeans and sweatshirts.nOne big fad in feminist studies these days is “proving”nthat sexual differences in temperament and behavior arenunrelated to hormones. Professor...

cause. As an Interior Department memo put it; “This is notnto be considered a partisan issue,” but part of an antidiscriminationneffort “which Federal employers are nownobliged to support.” During the climactic year of 1978,nPresident Carter himself traveled with his wife to Illinois,nSchlafly’s home state, in the week before the schedulednvote, to implore the state legislature...

12 / CHRONICLESntively recognize that preservation of the sexual constitutionnmay be even more important to the social order thannpreservation of the legal conshtution. They recognize thatnno laws can prevail against the dissolution of the socialnconnections and personal motivations that sustain a civilizednpolity. They acknowledge, with Carl Jung, that whilenthe society can resist epidemics of physical...

by subsidizing them with expanded welfare, day-care,nunisex job training, and other feminized government programsnthat richly earn the disdain they receive in streetnsociety. But many conservative men are little better.nLacking the guts to rebuff the upper-class feminist ladies,nthey go along with most of the feminist agenda, which shllnprevails in Washington bureaucracies under the ReagannAdministration. They fail...

14/CHRONICLESndestructive regimes in history, from Mussolini to Mao,nfrom the Japanese warlords to communist cadres.nIn any primitive tribe, rule by male fighters is the mostnnatural form of government. Not only do they commandnforce, but they also exert a moral appeal. The idea that mennwho risk their lives to preserve and protect the state earn thenright to...

middle-class, altogether alien to the established schools andnchurches that for decades have purported to uphold traditionnwhile in fact selling out and flaking out before everynnew fashion of decadence and socialism. The idea thatnAmerica might find renewal from a melange of movementsnof evangelical women, wetbacks, Dartmouth Review militants.nSouth Asian engineers, Bible thumpers, boat people,nMoonies, Mormons, Cuban...

world and affirms our connection tonit.”nWhat is the relevance of gender fornscience? Keller claims that greater recruitmentnof women into the scientificncommunity would play a crucial rolenin transforming the prevailing ideologynof science, since women have no emotionalninvestment in images of dominationnand manipulation. The ensuingntransformation of science wouldnsatisfy feminist demands that all aggressive,nmale ideologies need to bendestroyed...

tion of his father’s present spouse. Henrather prefers his biological mummsy,nthe ineffable Nowell, and visits hernnext day at her second husband’snapartment. While there, he becomesnviolently aroused again and throws annashtray into the telly. Nowell in turnngoes into hysterics and calls Stanley tonget his son the hell out of her apartment.nSteve ends up in the still-crazierncare...

20 / CHRONICLESnthis country, John Updike, both ofnthem over 50, had published ThenWitches ofEastwick here. Meanwhile,ntoo, Henri de Montherlant’s devastatingnnovel The Girls (1937) has justnbeen reissued in this country. For whatnmen have kept more or less to themselves,nand this notably in the writingnof fiction as well, until recently, is this:nover 50, the average male is...

DlSPENSATlOriSnTHE FUTURE OF SOUTH AFRICAnAS SOUTH AFRICANS SEE ITnRlCHAIU)JOHriNEUHAUSn”South Africa has needed explication by an observer who is at once a rigorousnChristian idealist, and a shrewd and practical observer. To have this, innaddition to the elegant journalistic sfeills of Richard John Neuhaus is, well,nprovidential.” _ wiLLIAM F. BUCiaEY, IR.n”No matter what your political perspective is...

vated by economic prejudice againstnthe entrepreneur. The Real AmericannCowboy and Daughters of Joy, Sistersnof Misery are typical of such works.nWriters who hve in Massachusetts ornWashington, DC, and whose views ofnthe West derive from the Westernnmovie, economic determinism, andnthe cloistered research library, churnnout works about cowboys which refernto the occupation as a “trade fraternity.”nThese books speak...

turbation, and other forms of “animalnlust.” True homosexuals reacted to thensetting “with disgust and loathing.”nMoreover, the fag system worked tonshape character, identify and affirmnnatural moral leaders, protect weakernstudents from bullies, and give Englishnboys a rite of passage into manhoodnthat created bonds of shared experiencenlasting their lifetimes. The transitionnfrom fag to senior taught a lesson:n”The pains...

which revisionists fabricate innovativeninterpretations. Both volumes do,nhowever, open a window upon thenbanahties of existence in times andnplaces—Virginia of the 1850’s andnFrance of the 1890’s—whose study isnoften preoccupied with the unfoldingnof BIG EVENTS: say, for example,nthe Dreyfus Affair in Erance, or thensecession crisis in Virginia. They, too,nserve who grapple only with the demandsnof insignificant lives.nObsessive feminists...

28 / CHRONICLESntheir graceful practice of the aristocraticnvirtues suffuses their existence withna special poignancy, for as we—butnnot they—know, their world isndoomed. None but a purblind apologistnwould mourn the passing ofnMarthe’s class; but the Lees: now therenis an aristocracy worthy of nostalgia;nonly the bitter reminder that Virginia’sngentry flourished on a foundation ofnhuman bondage blemishes our admiration.nAll...