and Chaucer find ourselves in the grip ofrnthe same process. I can read the novels ofrnChinua Achebe in the original, but thernspoken English of West Africa or even Jamaicarnis at times nearly incomprehensiblernto me. Recently, I told my son, “ICQrnis a cross between AOL’s instant messagernand a chat room, but you can use any ISPrnto...

scribing tlic degradation of the cliain linkrnby link, from plankton to fisherman tornpoet. Nor am I a political scicnhst, whornconld make the point bv mapping thernerosion of the rights of the individual inrnthe present epoch of transnahonal governmentrnand multinational corporate interests.rnI am just a 20-a-day smoker whornvowed to Neptune he would not litter inrntlie lagoon,...

rather surprisingly, came out in supportrnof Section 28, as did the chief rabbi.rnEven more surprisingly, a millionairernScottish businessman has put up moneyrnand promised to hold “poll tax-style”rnstreet demonstrations. The first result ofrnthese efforts was seen on February 7,rnwhen a packed f^ouse of Lords, whichrnvoted on the legislation before the Commons,rnthrew the bill out by a...

teach. By “Torah,” I speak of a basic philosophyrn—a core theology —that guidesrnthe everyday encounter with the crises ofrnlife, both public and private, and that accordsrnwith the revelation by God tornMoses at Mount Sinai. In general, rabbisrndo not refer back to a common body ofrnlearning that marks them as rabbis—notrnprofessors, not social workers, not communityrnadministrators,...

surely validates studying many tilings, notrnjust the Talmud. If Jewish edueationrnwere devoted to the holocaust, or if itrnconsisted of constant pilgrimages to thernstate of Israel, the same result might occurrn— or perhaps even a more satisfactoryone,rnsince an appeal to emotions (holocaustism)rnor the experience of ethnic loyalt}’rn(Israclism) demands much less thanrnis rec[uired by an appeal to...

ships with other African countries hasrncome an influx of immigrants fromrnneighboring states hke Mozambique,rnLesotho, and the Democratic RepubHcrnof the Congo, which are among the poorestrnon the planet. Most of the immigrantsrnare destitute. Not surprisingly, there isrnrising xenophobia. All of South Africa’srnmajor cities, and most towns of any size,rnare now ringed by shanty towns wherernlaw enforcement...

VITAL SIGNSrnPOLITICSrnChristophobiarnby Paul GottfriedrnI n the December 1999 issue of Commentary,rnIrving Stelzcr took PeterrnBrinielow to task for wanting to restrictrninnnigration. Setting the facts aside,rnStel/.er accuses Brinielow of being a fanrnof the “old-line WASP population” thatrnhad producedrn]:)erk-laden corpocrats who so mismanagedrnAmerica’s major companiesrnas almost to bring the economrnto ruin before being saved byrniXhcliacl Milken and his...

in the U.S. fighting forces. Neocon revulsionrnfor them, as evidenced b therndefamahon of the late M.E. Bradford inrnthe early 80’s, nia’ have been attributable,rnas Bradford himself noted, to “arnsociological variable.” Neocons consideredrnSoutherners to be obstinately ruralrngentiles, with a tendency toward antisemiticrnpopulist politics. And Southernrnresistance to the civil-rights movementrn(even before, as the neocons claim, thernmovement turned...

hibition against student groups that promoternsexualih’ would still have shut outrnthe Ga/Straight Alliance. But the state’srnCivie Center Act of 1989 allows privaterngroups to meet in public buildings. Studentrngroups with adult sponsors and liabilit^•rninsurance are entitled to rent space,rneen if thev lack official endorsementrnfrom the school’s administration. ThernGaVStraight Alliance gained the neededrnadult supervision and liability moneyrnfrom...

High School is the only public schoolrngroup of its kind in Utah so far, butrnGLSEN hopes a successful conclusionrnto its lihgation later this year will allowrnother gay/straight groups to blossomrnthroughout conservative Utah.rnMark Tooley is a research associate at thernInstitute on ReUgion and Democracy inrnWashington, D.C.rnLANGUAGErnAbortion and thernMurder of Meaningrnby William MurchisonrnSay what you mean,” the...

whenever she wanted to. (What makes arnseven-month-old fetus worthier of salvationrnthan a six-week-old embryo?) Yetrnhere he is in the Times, whistling perhapsrnas he works, scrubbing out a few bits ofrnembryonic tissue. Baby? What baby?rnNo face, no fingers, no college prospects,rnno Social Security number around here.rnObviously the pro-Roe v. Wade regimernthat more or less dominates political...

gcther. Worse, Ripley’s proposal hintsrnthat his love of Diekic’s life may extend tornhis person, despite Dickie’s involvementrnwith a yonng woman named Marge.rnDickie recoils in disgust, hurling an irrevocablerninsult: “Yon [arc] a leech and it’srnboring.” Ripley reacts impulsively, strikingrnDickie with an oar. hi the furiousrnfight that ensues, Ripley kills him unintentionallv.rnA talented forger and mimic, Riplevrneasily...

minders of how intolerable a finaneialrndrain he was, we never learn what happenedrnto Riple- as a child, leaving himrnan emotional ampntee. Vlien accusedrnof being queer, he doesn’t understand.rnHe childishlv thinks of himself as “one ofrnthe most innocent and clean-mindedrnI people I he |has] ever known.” But contrar-rnto his imagined sexual innocence,rnhis murder of Dickie has...

Pollvanna crooning (courtesy of the Eaglesrn—as befits a song-and-dance man,rnhe’s learned to make the sound signifyrnand entertain as much as the words):rn”Short people are just the same as yournand I / A fool such as I / All men arernbrothers until the day they die / What arnwonderful world.” What any sensitive listenerrnis left with...

Modern Editions of Classic Works for Readers TodayrnDAVID HUMErnProphet of the Counter-revolutionrnSecond EditionrnBy Laurence L. BongiernForeword by Donald LivingstonrnThough usually Edmund Burke is identified as the first tornarticulate the principles of a modern conservative politicalrntradition, arguably he was preceded by a Scotsman who is betterrnknown for espousing a brilliant concept of skepticism. AsrnLaurence Bongie notes,...

THE ROCKFORD INSTITUTE’SrnTHIRD ANNUAL SUMMER SCHOOLrnA classical republic: the American Founders’ dream . . . The armed citizen: fromrnMarathon to the militia . . . The pagan prophets: why Christians should study Greek . . .rn”The Greek Roots of Christendom”rn1-5 August 2000rnspecial lectures:rn”The Art of War in Ancient Greece” and “America’s Homeric Period”rnSpecial dinner event:rn”The...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnEXECUTIVE EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, Jr.rnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIGNERrnMelanie AndersonrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rn].0. Tate, Michael Washburn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, Donald Livingston,rnWilliam Mills, William Murchison,rnAndrei Navrozov, Jacob NeusnerrnFOREIGN AFFAIRS EDITORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnLEGAL AFFAIRS EDITORrnStephen B. PresserrnRELIGION EDITORrnHarold O.J. BrownrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnCIRCULWION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial...

the light of the blanket assertion, repeatedlyrndisseminated by the leaders of thernCofCC, that they were responsible forrnthe victory in South Carolina. It is truernthe CofCC mounted a petition campaignrnwhich was useful and held ralliesrnwhich, as I observed them, were as I describedrnthem. This very conveniendy allowedrnthe media to play the question asrnone of civil rights...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnE L I A N G O N Z A L E Z , the six-year-oldrnCuban boy whose mother died in an illegalrnattempt to enter the United States,rnhas become the smiley-faee of the NewrnWodd Order. Not that Elian or his fatherrnor Fidel Castro (or, to go still lower, thernClinton administration) is to blame—farrnfrom it....

This puritanical busybodying is the besettingrnAmerican sin. Our own famihesrnare plagued by divorce and child abuse,rnbut we think we have the right to settlerncustodv cases for the Cubans. Our streetsrnare nightmares of ethnic violence, but wernare willing to bomb European cities inrnorder to prevent wars between Christiansrnand Muslims. And then we wonder whyrnthe world hates...

the war having served its purpose byrnboosting Acting President VladimirrnPutin’s popularity.rnAs of this writing, Putin’s poll numbersrnremain high, and he will likely win thernearly election scheduled for March 26rn(although Chechen President AsianrnMaskhadov has reportedly called on hisrn”field commanders” to redouble their effortsrnin order to hurt Putin’s campaign;rnsome reports claim the Chechens willrnhang on in Grozny...

THE ROCKFORD INSTITUTE’SrnTHIRD ANNUAL SUMMER SCHOOLrnA classical republic: the American Founders’ dream . . . The armed citizen: fromrnMarathon to the militia . . . The pagan prophets: why Christians should study Greek . . .rn”The Greek Roots of Christendom”rn1-5 August 2000rnspecial lectures:rn”The Art of War in Ancient Greece” and “America’s Homeric Period”rnSpecial dinner event:rn”The...

PERSPECTIVErnThe Art of Creationrnby Thomas FlemingrnAn Interview With Dean Koontzrn”No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.”rn— Samuel JohnsonrnG K Chesterton was an avid reader of popular fiction, par-rn. ticularly the so-called “penny dreadfuls,” whose everydayrnmorality and concentration on plot and character made themrnmore wholesome reading than the pretentious productions ofrnmodernist literature. Chesterton’s...

uinely fond of the simple people she writes about. “Most highbrowrnwriters,” Koontz observes, “do not like ordinary life.”)rnThe really amazing thing, we agree, is the smug obtuseness ofrnthe chattering classes that identify government as the source of allrnblessings and regard religion and regionalism as the ultimaternevils.rn”In this bloodiest century of human history, how can anyonerndoubt...

with the author, nine times out often he’s going to help me understandrnwhy something worked.rnI ask him how he plans his books, because I have the impressionrnthat his complex structures must require elaborate outlines, characterrnsummaries, and all the usual paraphernalia taught in thernWrite-by-Numbers fiction courses. In fact, he says, he does not dornany planning, not...

trained the current generation of hack professors. By now, wernare suffering from several generations of educators who are notrnthemselves well educated, people who don’t know much aboutrnarrything, whose knowledge of literature is abysmal. These arernthe snobs who enhance their own social position by inventingrncritical theories and erecting artificial criteria.rnThis is the background for the creahon...

psychologists are dangerous, but are you suggesting there is arnpotential danger when counselors and therapists hold such psychicrnpower over their patients? You obviously know about thernreal problem of therapists taking advantage of their female patientsrn. ..rnDK: We shouldn’t be surprised if only ten percent of psychiatristsrnare serious about—or capable of—doing good, while thernother 90 percent...

Yet as successful as these and other commercial authors are,rnone always has the odd feeling that their publishers are slightlyashamedrnof them and wish thev were instead publishing the latestrnliterar)’ masterpiece, perhaps the new no’e] by Balzac, bookrnjacket enlivened with a photograph of the author swilling lukewannrnbeer and pounding on the bar at New York’s White...

case —at which the works of pure storytellers are discussed in seriousrnterms. It is hard to conceive of a symposium for which thernprogram would be announced as: “Social and Cultural hnplications:rn3 May. Bistritz. Left Munich at 8:35 P.M. on 1st May,rnarriving at Vienna early next morning.'” This, of course, is thernopening line of Bram Stoker’s...

individual talents of the past; or, to put it colloquially, where fietionrnis concerned, there is precious little “new under the sun.”rnEven so, Eliot was not saying—nor am I — that everythingrnwritten has to imitate or slavishly ape the past. Rather, thosernwho decide whether a contemporary form has artistic meritrnshould be measuring it against a standard...

with Neil Simon, he would. At least, he said, he would exchangernincomes. But he could not write “easy plays,” worksrnthat appealed to the masses. “I’ve tried,” Albee said in responsernto a student’s question, “but I just can’t. I have to write for somethingrnhigher.”rnHigher? How so? Are we, as readers, truly justified in scoffingrnat the common...

CHRONICLES’ BACK ISSUES, TAPES, AND BOOKSrnOn Creativity^ Literatiirt^ and PnblisMngrnWHO KILLED THE BOOK?—May 1998—Tony Outhwaite exposes the book industryrnas a hothouse of goofincss, George Garreu and Clay Reynolds lament the decline ofrncommercial publishing, Gregory McNamee highlights the state of the university press,rnand Gene Edward Veith sees Christian publishers in the thrall of Mammon. Plus JessernWalker...

“All the NewsrnUnfit to Print” ignsi of t)t tCimesirnVol. 2 No. 4 April 2000rnThe fruits of NATO’s splendid little warrnin Kosovo are becoming apparent. Russiarnhas revised its defense doctrine to make itrneasier to press the nuclear button. Thernnew national security strategy promulgatedrnby Acting President Vladimir Putinrncalls for “expanded nuclear containment”rnwhile pledging to resist Western attemptsrnto...

put his aim point on the otherrnend of the bridge from wherernthe t r a i n had come. By therntime the bomb got close thernbridge was covered with smokernand clouds, and at the lastrnminute, again in an uncanny accident,rnthe t r a i n had s l i d forwardrnfrom the original impactrnand parts...

year, literally screaming “Geronimo!” asrnhe leaves Palo Alto in his dust. Cassityrnlands Winters’ “granite integrity” and hisrngenius for “response to the immediate.”rnBowers puts the lie to Winters-as-tyrantrnmyths, speaking of the egalitarian spiritrnthat ruled his classroom and stressing, inrna letter to me. Winters’ ability to exciternyounger poets to engage in a shared endeavorrnthat does not fit...

ems draw on both geographical and historicalrnlocales before moving to the generalrnplane. Cunningham, on the otherrnhand, writes almost exclusively on thernlevel of generalization. Winters once observed,rn”Cuniringham is seldom perceptivernof the physical universe around him;rnhe does not know what to do with it”; still,rnCunningham is one of the wittiest of allrnmodern poets on sexual subjects, a...

sentatives of all progressive mankind, andrnfriends of the Soviet Union, and the NewrnYork Times still calls writers.rnEmbracing the totalitarian temptation,rnwith its sweet chaos of hopes andrnlongings centered on human sacrifice,rnmay have been the fashionable thing, thernprudent thing, the “done” thing in America,rnbut it never used to mean big bucks.rnWith the advent of Hannibal Lecter, it...

Principalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnThe Hispanic StrategyrnThe question that has smoldered in thernRepnblican mind for the last couple ofrnyears is not who will be the presidentialrnnominee of the party in 2000, but rather,rnwill George W. Bush win the Hispanicrnvote? Since some time in 1998, it hasrnbeen an unquestioned assumption ofrnmany, if not most. Republicans—at leastrnthose...

Hispanic vote. Both candidates’ showingsrnwere probably due not so much tornthe actual record of the candidates on immigrationrnissues as to the generally lacklusterrncampaigns that the candidatesrnmounted. President Bush and SenatorrnDole lost Hispanics for the same reasonrnthey lost most other voters —they werernsimply bad candidates.rnBut another likely reason for the declinernof Hispanic support for Republicansrnis the...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From thernPacific Northwestrnby Jonathan EllisrnSlaughter on the High SeasrnThe sun had not yet risen when a crew ofrnseven Makali Indians launched its handcarvedrncedar canoe into the frigid watersrnaround Neah Bay, Washington. Therncrew paddled west through the Strait ofrnJuan de Fuca and rounded Cape Flatteryrn—the westernmost point of the continentalrnUnited States—before settling intornthe Pacific Ocean....

on to something. At best, the Northwestrnwas crawling with cnltural imperiahsts.rnAt worst, it was httered with latent racists.rnBnt because it was the racism of hipstersrnwho adorn their Volvos and Volkswagensrnwith politically correct bnmper stickers, itrndidn’t generate the high-profile media attentionrnthat comes when, sav, a pitifulrnband of neo-Nazis crawls out of thernwoods and marches down Main...

to the reservation harbor shortly thereafterrnand float a stone’s throw from thernbeach. From that point on, the two sidesrnwould exchange insults, often aided byrnbull horns. The Makah generously employedrnthe f-word and referred to thern”eco-colonialists” as “walruses,” which tornthem is evidentl}’ some kind of putdown.rnThe whale saviors held an obvious educationalrnadvantage over the Makah. Betweenrnear-shattering blasts...

zo. Since I was probably that issue’s onlyrnreader—everybody else was out buyingrngiblets and stocking up on lentils —Irnmust report the stale news it contained,rnin the form of the Index of Preparednessrnfor the Future and another called the Indexrnof Social Harmony. “Which of thernfifteen member states of the EuropeanrnUnion,” the statisticians were asked, “isrnthe most innovative...

rest of the Christian world at the time, thernundisputed master of his own destiny,rneven the wealthiest American of 180rnyears later is, like the United States of today,rnbut one vector in myriad other strategicrnquantities of which tomorrow is composed.rnIt made no difference to Byron’srnfuture that the richest countries of his dayrnwere three times richer than the...

ginia’s 220, 301, or 360 lately?)rnJust outside Blacksburg, the tightlyrnpacked line of unsold cars, fast-food outlets,rnservice stations (which don’t give service),rnand ticky-tacky shanties stand doorwayrnto doorway as cars move bumper tornbumper. Passing what used to be a lovelyrnarboretum, I reach the humbled intersectionrnof 460 and 116: I call it IndigestionrnJunction, from the cluster ofrnfast-food outlets...

VITAL SIGNSrnLITERATURErnThe Golden Goose:rnA Recollectionrnby Robert BeumrnIn the bright, warm autumn of 1947rnthat followed a chilly summer, severalrnhundred bewildered IT-year-olds foundrnthe Ohio State University campus inrnColumbus swarming with an alien andrnformidable species: veterans. The war,rnthough well over, was still more a realityrnthan a memory. The Great Depressionrnwas over too, having disappeared insensiblyrnin the war years....

sembled—maybe a dozen or so.rnThe meeting was called to order byrnone Ward Taylor, a pleasantrnchap—stocky, horn-rimmed, prematurelyrnbalding—who lookedrnmore like an accounting than anrnEnglish major. About 10 or 15rnminutes into the meeting our oldrnpal Dick the Dude made an entrance.rnTall, very blond, wearingrnan expensive trench coat with arnwhite silk scarf and pigskin gloves.rnBig theatrical smile. Apologizedrnfor...

goose was a living bird, instinctive, spontaneous,rnself-delighted, not the stuffedrntrophy of academics or politicized gnosticrndreamers living in the future and deadrnin the present. Emerson’s energy, ambientrnand unstoppable, rhythmic as thernkissing platen, was itself a lark to behold.rnHe insisted too often on imposing hisrnwill, but after all, it was a will born to bernimposed; and it...

A gifted (and self-taught) layout artistrnwith a knowledge of every t”peface andrnlaid text ever marketed, he designed mostrnof the hooks and magazine issues himselfrnNo one could quarrel with the resrdts:rnhistead of pouring his life down therndrain of TV and computer screens, herncreated paper artifacts, now collectible,rnof permanent appeal, hi the early 1950’s,rna more lucrative posihon...

that all Indian populations in the Americas,rnnorth and south, ultimately derivedrnfrom these Siberian migrants.rnThe Clovis theory of New World settlementrnworked magnificently so long asrnthe amount of contrary evidence wasrnsmall enough to be controlled and, abovernall, no material evidence of earlier settlementrnappeared. Partly, this was achievedrnby an unconscious conspiracy: Archaeologistsrnnow freely admit that when theyrnreached Clovis...