hymns. Cornish choirs quickly became a part of life in Westernrnmining towns. The Grass Valley Cornish Choir gained nationalrnrenown by the 1890’s and eventually performed for seeralrnAmerican presidents.rnThe Cornish introduced and made the pasty a staple of therndiet of miners working long hours underground. Consisting ofrna hearty helping of meat and vegetables in a crimped...

crease range and conserve lead. They enlarged and strengthenedrnthe trigger guard to withstand rough handling. They increasedrnthe size of the sights to ensure good aim over greater distancesrnon the frontier. They made the hickory ramrod andrngrease patch standard.rnThe result of all these innovations was the famed Kentuckyrnrifle. Known at first as the Long rifle, the...

its heroic chivalry, and . . . you get the picture. Literally everyrnone of the crudest stereotypes ahout medieval Chrishanity sHllrnflourishes, but it has been transferred en masse to Islam in thernsame period.rnBeyond question, medieval Islam did possess a glorious civilization.rnMuslim scholars did a superb job of preserving classicalrnwritings, and they made significant progress in...

the massacres of Jews and heretics diirirrg the crusading era, andrnespcciallx’ the great pogroms during the Black Death. Presumabl’,rnscientificall’ adanccd Muslims did not need to findrnscapegoats for the plague. Chrishan Europe is equally condemnedrnby its invoK ement in the Crusades, those acts of religious-rnbased militarism that foreshadowed the worst brutalitiesrnof later imperialism. Tlie contrast between...

Sic et Non?rnAgreeing Not to Disagreernby Harold O.J. BrownrnAnumber of years ago, when I was teaching a ninth-grade rehgionrnclass (in Switzerland, where religion is taught inrnpublic schools), one of the boys said to me, “All religions teachrnthe same thing.” Although only 15, he was, without knowing it,rna witness for multiculturalism —not in the descriptive sense,...

fcred a helpful insight. Virtually every human societ}’ has somernidea of transcendence, despite the obvious fact that there arernast differences among them. However, Del Noce argues inrnThe Epoch of Secularization, transcendence no longer appearsrnin the once-Christian West. It is not that it has been abolished;rnit is, rather, as though the culture as a whole has...

CHRONICLES’ BACK ISSUES, TAPES, AND BOOKSrnOn EducationrnCOLLEGES WITHOUT WALLS: BREAKING THE HIGHER EDUCATIONrnMONOPOLY—September 2000—Mary Pride explains how homeschoolers willrnchange higher education, James Patrick discusses ihe reemergence of colleges in Christ,rnand Donald W. Livingston thinks that the future of education lies outside of the academy.rnPlus Jacob Neusner on Judaism and abortion and Sean Scallon on globalist...

by cinephiles. Where Danger Livesrn(1950) is prime noir. His Kind of Womanrn(1951), an extravagant pre-postmodernrnnoir experiment, remains highly appealingrntoday. (Ironing his money, Mitchum’srncharacter declares, “When I’mrnbroke, I press my pants.”) Angel Facern(1952) is high on the list of ?7o/rs—it wasrnone of Jean-Luc Godard’s favorite Americanrnfilms. The Night of the Hunterrn(1955) is remarkable for many reasons.rnThe...

gory of film noir, which may seem eitherrnan obvious or a weak suggestion—but it isrnnot a suggestion I have seen anywhere.rnThunder Road is not listed in any book onrnnoir I know, not even in Silver and Ward’srnencyclopedic account. But noir saysrnsomething about Mitchum’s imagination.rnAfter all, Mitchum was one of the stalwartsrnof film noir; add to...

b }olin Major (who wanted to equalizerneervone downward, to assuage his ownrnfeehngs of soeial ineptitude) is close atrnhand.rnDumbing down is also helped alongrnbv egalitarian politicians and cultinalrnprominenti seeking to open up culturalrnlife to the “socially excluded” (anotherrncontemporary cliche, normally used torndescribe potential clients or voters). Accordingrnto these people, the human ides,rnthe arts, and polities are...

Letter From Rockfordrnby Scott P. RichertrnBreakin’ Up Is Hard To Dornjfter the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court ofrnAppeals officially declared that the Rockfordrnschool-desegregation lawsuit wouldrncome to an end on June 30, 2002 (seernletter From Rockford, June), many Rockfordiansrnsimply assumed that a return tornlocal control would soke all of our problems.rnBut even when court-orderedrnspending has ended, the...

At Last!rnA book that exposes the true cultural significance of the Clinton presidencyrnThe Nonpatriotic President: A Survey of the Clinton Yearsrnby Janet Scott BarlowrnWliitewater . . . Filegate . . . Monica LewinskyrnThe scandals are only the beginningrnIf you think that Bill Clinton’s influence will end when hernleaves office, you need to read this book....

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Englandrnby Michael McMahonrnCredit Where Credit’s DuernTony Blair’s promised target before beingrnelected to his first term in office was “Education,rneducation, education”; somernmonths into his second term, it is clearrnthat his promise has been honored, andrnthat his target has been hit—clean betweenrnthe eyes. English education liesrnunconscious on the canvas. If there isrnany real learning going...

to “study” one of his plays; it is almost alwaysrnRomeo and ]uliet or A MidsummerrnNight’s Dream, chosen for their relaticrnaccessibility. But such study is hardly rigorous.rnThe giveaway is in the examrnscripts: Candidates write not of the eventsrnof the play, but of scenes from the film,rnhi the case of Romeo and Juliet, answersrnfrcc[uently refer to such...

see the pictures on TV) and is either ignorantrnof, or numb to, the hardships hisrn”compassion” may be imposing on hisrnown people. Allegedly the President of arnrepublic, he is making a grand gesturernakin to an emperor opening the templerngranaries for the luckless lower castes.rnHe apparently has no idea what the traditionalrn”conservative” view of the state’srnproper role...

cent inflation.rnMyths and hypocrisy aside, the case ofrnChile poses some tough moral problems.rnAlthough it’s true that the leftists broughtrnthe repression on themselves, the brutalityrnof the military government is difficultrnto justify.rnIn mid-March, near the end of my trip,rnI rented a car in Iquique and drove to thernfar northern seacoast hamlet of Pisagua.rnWedged onto a strip of...

in the Union, reject their business leaders’rnpromise of economic progress? Andrnwhy make such a controversial choice forrna symbol, a mere flag?rnNon-Southerners habitually underestimaternthe importance that Southernersrnattach to their heritage. No doubt thernp.c. crowd thought it would be a simplernmatter to use the media monopoly tornpropagate the notion that the current flagrnis a symbol of racism,...

casm of a croupier asked to accept a betrnafter the ball had dropped, said that herrnfloor was not dirty, it was just covered inrnpaint.rn”Painting in art schools is more or lessrnout now,” writes the English criticrnMatthew Collings in his intentionally irreverent,rnand often unintentionally revealing,rnencyclopedia of contemporaryrnart. “You could easily go through your artrnschool years today...

The systematic and deliberate destructionrnof the Yugoslav democratic revivalrnby the “international community” and itsrnBelgrade minions following the fall ofrnSlobodan Milosevic may not be the mostrnimportant news unfit to print of the year,rnbut it is certainly the biggest untold story.rnAs we approach the anniversary of thisrnevent, the hme has come to tell it as it is.rnhi...

patible programs and philosophies, tornsubmit to a real test of their electoralrnstrength. He was strongly urged to do sornby many friends and polihcal allies. Kostunicarndid not heed their advice, andrnsome of his supporters now claim thatrnthis was a fatal mistake. Other DOS partiesrnwaited for this decision with markedrnnervousness, as it was obvious that onlyrntwo of...

VITAL SIGNSrnFOREIGN POLICYrnBeat the Drumrnby Scott McConnellrnThere arc some foreign-policy questionsrnthat require all the wisdomrnAmerica’s leaders can summon —andrnsome good luck as well. Responding tornChina’s emergence as a military and economicrnpower, for instance, may prove asrndifficult for the international system asrncoming to terms with Germany’s rise wasrnin the last century, with the consequencesrnfor getting it...

weighed in with a pieee by StephenrnSchwartz, a San Francisco-based writerrnwho visited the region and presented arnpicture of Kosovo Albanian poHtics sornsweetened that it called to mind the acconntsrnof commimist countries producedrnby the duped liberal polihcal pilgrimsrnof the Cold War era. Perhapsrncognizant that it was not American policyrnto support armed separatist insurrectionsrn(and that an American...

ton despisers . . . and ultra-sophisticatedrn’realist’ intellectuals who have divinedrnthat America has no interest in the Balkans.”rnIt was a more perilous momentrnthan when it seemed that Pat Buchananrnmight grab the presidential nominationrnin 1996: most Republicans, after all, werernnot Buehananites. But in 1999, most Republicansrnwere unenthusiastic aboutrnClinton’s bombing campaign. The editorsrnpulled their hair out when...

most vanish. Black political clout dependsrnon thousands of vocal, energehc,rnquick-to-mobilize, university-entrenchedrnallies.rnNarrow financial self-interest cannotrnexplain the bond. No personal gainrncomes to white academics who embracernthe racial party line. Indeed, endorsementrnsubverts selfish monetar)’ advancement.rnLucrative minority faculty appointments,rnseparate “black studies”rnprograms, and race-based channeling ofrnresearch funds impose costs, not benefits,rnon white academics.rnWhat about cultural affinity? Havernwhite liberal faculty and...

bring release. This step might require arnfederal “transition” program which, inrnturn, might obligate other bureaucrats tornmonitor employment progress with periodicrnevaluations. If the newly gained “independence”rnmisfires, safety-net programsrnstand by for additional retrainingrnand counseling.rnIgnoring blacks politically is precarious;rninner-cit’ residents are not detachedrnAppalachian whites or apathetic Asians.rnThey can burn down cities. Imagine professorsrnopting for Korean immigrants tornachieve their...

life. For many academics, this is an unacknowledgedrnconfluence of interests,rnnot a diabolical plot.rnIn their endless support of the civilrightsrnmovement, liberal academics seeminglyrnhave covered themselves in glory. Atrnleast initially, the assistance was sincerernand did ameliorate many of America’srnworst faults. But, alas, the honeymoon isrnover. As in enduring marriages, relationshipsrnevolve. Yesterday’s passionate affectionrnhas been replaced by a...

In The Darkrnby George McCartneyrnSo What’s a Metaphor?rnA.I., Steven Spielberg’s fantasy about a roboticrnfuture, should stand as an object lessonrnto directors: Any film that includesrnFred Astaire on its soundtrack had betterrnbe light on its feet. Astaire’s eloquent walkonrnhere reveals A. J. to be shod in concrete.rnFort)’ minutes into tlie narrative, we meetrnGigolo joe ()ude Law...

reported to have entertained: that, ultimately,rnhumanity will be subsumed andrnredeemed by the artificial higher intelligencernof a computerized robot culture.rnIn what seems a desperate coda, Spielbergrnintroduces—as a deus ex machina —rna band of sleek, jointless mechanical beingsrnto lend their gleaming hands to thernproceedings. They look suspiciously likernthe benevolent aliens who came to enlightenrnus all at the...

The Hundredth Meridianrnhy Chilton Williamson, ]r.rnSunday SummerrnIn June, the sun gets up about the timernthe pollen release ends. Keeping thernbedroom window down in the earlvrnmorning hours is a simple preventive forrnhay fever that requires only getting uprnaround 2:00 A.M. to drop the window. It’srneasier to take a pill the night before andrnforget about it. And...

drove out of town, stopping for a six-packrnof beer and a bag of ice from a coneniencernstore in West Laramie.rnYon could pull a horse trailer np JelmrnMountain, I suppose, but what would bernthe point in doing it? I parked the rig besidernthe two-track near the base of the hillrnand rode horseback as far as the...

^le ^o/i/i f/lanc/o/p/i GViz/j GoniCfS to fnoc/i/o/u^/rn2001: the 225thrnanniversary ofrnthe AmericanrnRevolution and thern25th anniversaryrnof Chronicles andrnThe RockfordrnInstitute.rnThe Rockford InstituternandrnChronicles: A Magazine of American CulturernPresents:rnThe 12th Annual Meeting ofrnTHE JOHN RANDOLPH CLUBrn”Tyranny and Revolution”rnNovember 9-10, 2001rnSince the Revolution, limited government, personal liberty, and states’ rights have beenrnground away by the forces of the counterrevolution that concentrated...

[I]t is because the Serbians have been warlike that we have found it possible to be peaceful.rnIf they are fierce it is because no courage short of sheer fanaticism could have kept the frontiers ofrnChristendom against such locust-clouds of foes, while we were electing our first parliaments and building ourrnfirst cathedrals. While all that we...

EDITORrnThomaa FlemingrnKXEC DTIVK EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, jr.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnAaron D. WolfrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIONERrnMelanie AndersonrnCONTRiBlJTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnPhilip Jenkins, j.O. Tate, MichaelrnWashburn, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnJanet Scott Barlow, Bill Kaiiffman,rnDonald Livingston, William Mills,rnWilliam Murchison, AndreirnNavrozov, Jacob NeusnerrnFILM EDITORrnGeorge McCartneyrnppREIC^N-AIT-‘AIRS I<:DIT0RrnSrdja TrifkovicrnLEC;AL-AFFAIRS EDITORrnStephen B. PresserrnREI-ICION EDITORrnHarold O.J. BrownrnCIRCULATION MANAC;ERrnCindy LinkrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford...

a large part of our lives maintaining federal,rnstate, and priate land. Are those ofrnV.1S wlio choose to preserve nature worth)’rnof the epithet “slaves to nature”?rnMr. Williamson shonld stick to knockaboutrntales of the people and places of thernWest, the landscapes, the distances, andrnwhat immigration is doing to take it allrnaway. That, we know, he can do...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnBOSNIA is the United Nations’ firstrnmajor experiment in nation-building,rnand the experiences of this multiethnic/rnmulticultural state provide discouragingrnevidence that the “international community”rnis no more virtuous or high-mindedrnthan the old rogues who governed nation-rnstates. Take the case of ThomasrnMiller, the United States ambassador inrnSarajevo, who is rumored to have eonspiredrna year ago with Milorad Dodik,rnthen prime...

those from Eastern Europe and the ThirdrnWorld—are involved in large-scale smugglingrnof American cigarettes that arrivernfrom Montenegro and are then shippedrnvia Bosnia to the European Union.”rnForeigners have absolute power inrnBosnia. The results were to be expected.rnAs for Anrbassador Miller and his cronyrnMilorad Dodik, watch this space.rnSrdja TrifkovicrnT H E MISSOURI S Y N O D of...

or above the ‘replacement level’ of 2.1rnchildren per woman,” but that’s hardlv arnconsolation, considering one third of ourrnnation’s births are illegitimate. In otherrnwords, married couples are not replacingrnthemselves, and a growing illegitimaternpopulation is also bad economic news,rnimless you are among the few who havernfound a way to profit from an expandingrnwelfare state.rnAs governments in the...

[I]t is because the Serbians have been warlike that we have found it possible to be peaceful.rnIf they are fierce it is because no courage short of sheer fanaticism could have kept the frontiers ofrnChristendom against such locust-clouds of foes, while we were electing our first parliaments and building ourrnfirst cathedrals. While all that we...

PERSPECTIVErn”Wasted Away Again in Margaritaville”rnby Thomas FlemingrnThe arrest of the 19-year-old Bush twins for drinking liquorrnin an Austin restaurant gave the news-starved (and starvedbrained)rnpress something to cackle over. The girls, clearly in arnstate of arrested adolescent rebellion, checked their Secret Servicernagents at the door and, even after the restaurant rejectedrnJenna’s fake ID, succeeded in getting...

It is not merely that puritans are mistaken (which they are),rnor that they dehberately and perversely misinterpret Scripturern(which they do), but that they set themselves up as self-maderngods in opposition to the moral freedom we enjoy as followersrnof Christ and members of His Church. If they do not wish torndrink wine (except, of course, in...

National Endowmentsrnby Paul LakernFrom courtly MaecenasrnHorace receivedrnA rich Sabine farmrnPeopled by slaves.rnSilver-tongued VirgilrnPraisedrnCaesar Augustus, Rome’srnFar flung empire, and grewrnEpic in fame.rnLight-hearted OvidrnKnewrnBoredom and sorrowrnFirst hand,rnFor a fewrnIndelicate words, dyingrnUnreconciledrnTo imperial powerrnIn a rude andrnBarbarous land.rnOne hint of disgust inrnAn age’s corruptionrnBrings exile and shame.rnEven in thisrnLess than AugustanrnAge, dangers abound.rnThink what such patronagernCosts, then,rnBefore courting...

tive veneer to a socict)- founded upon brutalit}’ and exploitation:rninsisting that people choose the correct fork for dinner whilernpeople were being lynched outside. A good case can be made,rnthough, that appeals to manners had at least as much of an effectrnas law in improving people’s lives, in extending their lifechances.rnI think, for instance, of Mark...

ing of good manners and gentlemanliness, with mixed results.rnThe end of the road, I suppose, was D.H. Lawrence, and thernsick charade of Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier.rnThe American tradition of manners has always been rough —rnperhaps because of the frontier, and perhaps even more becausernof resentment of class distinctions. The results have notrnalways been...

them invited me to come see him, and then abandoned the appointment,rnfor which I had traveled many miles, on therngrounds that he had a superior immediate opportunity. Anotherrninvited me to talk to him and then dismissed me as though Irnhad not been asked to be there. A third (I do not remember himrnand there is...

What Makes Southern Manners Pecuhar?rnby Ward S.AllenrnSoutherners live in the 18th century.” This commonrncharge is not altogether false, since the peculiar hahits,rncustoms, and meanings of words found often in the AmericanrnSouth are found also in 18th-century English authors. MostrnEnglish-speaking people use the word “manners” now only inrnthe senses designated by the Oxford English Dictionary as...

clung to the idea, which led clever people in step with the timesrnto disparage Southerners for their peculiar manners. “Southernrnmen were proud of being gentlemen, although they have beenrntold in ever’ conceivable va that it was a foolish pride” (BasilrnL, Gildersleeve, The Creed of the Old South, 1865-1915). Butrnthis verv idea of a gentleman has...

Master: You should have added “sir.”rnBoy: Nearly six months, sir.rnSoutherners fiird terms of respect natural. Children usernthem in addressing their parents; students use them in addressingrnteachers; workmen use them in addressing overseers; laymenrnuse them in addressing pastors and priests. These termsrnare common in various relations of society.rnAn old friend of mine lay ill and extremely...

u ing attack on cen- figure on the politicalrnright —from Newt Gingrich to thernmembers of National Alliance —in thernweeks after the bombing made clear,rnbut Michel and Ilerbeck provide nornevidence (nor does an’ other reliablernsource that I know of) that tlie perpetratorsrnof the bombing intended it to do so.rnMichel and ficrbeck mention onl’rnbrieflx McVeigh’s insignificant contactsrnwith...

168 people with the writer of thesernletters. . . . 1 do know one thing: Inrnthe written word, at least, he iiasrnnot a whis]3er ot conseienee.rnMeX’eigh elainied to Miehcl andrnHerheek that he did not know thern-lurrah Building had a daeare eenter,rnthat it w as not isihlc from the .street, thatrnhe would hae pieked another target...

work (“It would have reached Spain severalrnmonths ago had it not been for therntardiness, indisposition, and eventuallyrnthe death of your secretary”). But very littlernis known about his personal life.rnGiorgio Vasari knew Titian personallyrnand described him as “a most healthyrnand fortunate man, who has receivedrnnothing but favours from heaven, hi additionrnto his genius he possesses the...