Category: Imported

1920’s when he was in the prime of life,rnat the top of his form, and at the peak ofrnhis notoriety, he found himself in a positionrnto make the most romanticallv ofrnhis carefully cultivated celebrity—andrndid so. Even after his wife had died,rnleaving him a bachelor once more at thernage of ^5, he had many opportunitiesrnfor love—including,...

Columbia History of the British Novel.rnYou learn, for example, that no matterrnhow meager your bibliography is, yournshould always include a citation of therneditor or associate editors, if at all possible.rnYou learn, too, that anything thatrngets you out of the house is good forrnyou. A long walk promotes health,rnneighborliness, and improved knowledgernof local architecture and trees....

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Finlandrnby Jacob NeusnerrnPostcommunist JudaismrnAfter two days of intensive sight-seeing inrnSt. Petersburg, Russia, not so much arneity as a eemetery holding the remains ofrnwhat was once a citv, I returned to Finlandrnand turned on the St. PetersburgrnTV channel that we get here in Abo. St.rnPetersburg TV was broadcasting a showrnabout Russian Jews in Tel...

VITAL SIGNSrnCeMM0N;VVEAfL;rn^^ •”Mpjililil’ ‘ ^ ^rnProfessor Burnham,rnMafioso Costello,rnand Mernby Ralph Robert ToledanornA Cold War ReminiscencernNot long after the conviction of AlgerrnHiss, Professor James Burnham,rnKarl Hess, and I met in my apartment onrnRiverside Drive to discuss a matter thatrnhad concerned us for some time. JimrnBurnham was then working on his bookrnThe Web of Subversion. Karl, like...

Costello: Of course.rnSpellman: And do you want to gornto Heaven?rnCostello: Of course.rn”Then we need you to get us …” andrnCardinal Spellman named the specifiedrnsum, to be turned over as quickly as possible.rnThe funds were supplied forthwith,rnand presumably Frank Costello receivedrnhis pass for the Pearly Gates.rnFantastic as it seems, this story has beenrnchecked out, though it...

One of history’s mostrnfamous coinsrnNapoleon^srnGoldrn1806-1814rnGuaranteedrnauthentic goldrn20 Franc ”Napoleon”rnAt least 175 years old!rnOne of Napoleon’s lastingrnachievements was to instituternthe gold 20 Franc coin, commonlyrncalled the “Napoleon.”rnAfter declaring himself Emperor,rnhe issued these magnificentrngold coins bearing hisrnportrait. They circulated in thernFirst Empire from the height ofrnhis power until his defeat atrnWaterloo.rnGuaranteed Genuinernand select qualityrnInternational Coins & Currency,rnInc., has...

Sanctions, then, are in no sense arnsubstitute for war. They are a warlike actrnand a cowardly and deeply immoralrnmeans for the United States to inflictrnpain on hapless civilians without sufferingrnany sort of retaliation. Perhaps onernday, in some far-off future, the wormrnmay be able to turn, and the sanctionedrncountry may be able to turn the tables.rnIt...

fore round as well: plowing leads tornplanting, which in turn leads eventuallyrnto harvesting, until the cycle is completedrnand plowing begins again. LawrencernDurrell, steeped in the Greek and Romanrnpast of the region, noted the “momentousrnsimultaneousness” of historyrnendlessly repeating itself and recycledrnGiono’s geometrical metaphor in the titlernof the last chapter of his book Caesar’srnVast Ghost: Aspects of...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnWork SuspendedrnIf compensation is possible l^or a summerrnso brief that the growing season is limitedrnto 55 days at best, it is the most beautifulrnIndian summer on earth climaxedrnby elk season in the last two weeks of October,rnWhile friends of mine, here and elsewhere,rnseem politely convinced thatrnwriting is merely a reasonably...

out 300 yards. A spike, perhaps arnforkhorn: any elk is a good elk, you canrnhunt for weeks up here without seeingrnanything. A rock ten feet away offered arnrest. I crept to it, knelt, cradled the forestockrnin my gloved hand, took aim, andrnfired.rnThe young bull lifted his head andrnstared above my own into the tops ofrnthe...

Should America Be arn’Multicultural’ Society?rnPresident Ronald Reagan warned in 1983, “This country has lost control of its borders,rnand no country can sustain that…”rnEvents have proven him right. Every year, more than 300,000 illegal ahens settle herernpermanently. At the same time, the U.S. admits nearly one miUion legal immigrants annually,rnthe highest sustained level of immigration in...

DON’T LET “DiEM GOrnUNOPPOSED!rnOr They’ll Control The Campus Debate. The universities still don’t get the picture.rnThey think students of the nineties still want tornhear the tiresome rhetoric of the sixties. And inrnmost schools that’s all students get when itrncomes to guest lecture programs.rnBut students bold enough to take action tornbalance their education can do somethingrnabout...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR. BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, Jr.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnChristine HaynesrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O.j. Brown, Katherine Dalton,rnSamuel Francis, George Garrett,rnE. Christian Kopff, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, Jacob Neusner,rnJohn Shelton Reed, Momcilo SelicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C. CarlsonrnPUBLICAI’ION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCOMPOSITION MANAGERrnAnita FedorarnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn934 North Main Street. Rockford,...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnFOUR YEARS AT HARVARD havernmade me much thicker-skinned than Irnused to be. To be sure, it was more thanrna Uttle unsetthng when my freshmanrndormitory held a mandatory sensitivityrnsession at which each student was forcedrnto say: “Hello, my name i s . . . , and I’mrngay.” But after seeing Angela Davisrnwelcomed and feted by...

ican culture.rn”Brown anti-Semitism,” which a fewrnofficers of Hispanic clubs and societiesrnon campus proclaim, consists of a clusterrnof ideas about Jews in Mexico and inrnAmerica. One of the ideas advocated isrnthat the president of Mexico is a Jew,rnwhich explains his heartlessness towardrnthe poor and unempowered peasants inrnMexico. Another notion is that all Mexicanrnbanks are owned by...

deconstructionism, Lacanism, and moralrnrelativism—are ensconced in what passesrnfor higher education today. But studentrnradicals will try, pushing the envelopernof acceptability to new levels ofrnextremism.rnLast Veteran’s Day, for example, arngroup of about 200 demonstrators, ledrnby out-of-state rabble-rousers, filled thernfirst floor of the administration buildingrnat the New York State Universityrncampus in Binghamton to express theirrndissatisfaction with the state...

in non-credit ESL classes, often afterrnyears of “bilingual”—more accurately,rnnonlingual—education in the publicrnschools. These students do not becomernliterate but rather support an elaboraternsocial structure that has become thernbiggest (tax) money-maker in the openadmissionsrncollege world. ESL programsrnare notorious for the poor quality of theirrntexts and the blase attitude of theirrninstructors.rnAfter two years of ESL classes, studentsrngo on...

Principalities & Powersrnbv Samuel FrancisrnDe-AmericanizationrnAlthough the summer of 1994 producedrnno entertainments to rival the fun of lastrnyear’s Jurassic Park, let alone the previousrnsummer’s Los Angeles riots, it did yieldrnup the brief but amusing manhunt forrnO.J. Simpson and the edifying spectaclernof the wanted killer of his ex-wife and herrnpretty young companion cruising up andrndown the Los...

Nation,” a question that in the last yearrnor so has been pondered by the professionalrnpundits of the mainstream Americanrnright as well. As immigration hasrnbecome a major political issue in highimpactrnstates like California and Florida,rneven mainstream conservatives haverntumbled to the issue’s importance andrnhave started holding their typicallyrnbloodless and inconsequential conferencesrnon the same question.rnDr. Nelson is rather...

are always boosting the very same diversificationrnof the Ameriean people andrnculture that the left finds so charming,rnand they do so essentially because theirrnmost influential spokesmen never reallyrnbroke with the ideological left at all.rnhi the absence of at least a real debaternabout immigration in place of the happyrnchatter and name-calling that neoconservativesrnprefer, there is not going...

PERSPECTIVErnOn Liberal Educationrnby Thomas FlemingrnMy definition of liberal education as the education ofrnliberals no longer sounds provocative. Liberalism, havingrnfailed and failed disastrously in all its political experimentsrnfrom church disestablishment to women’s suffrage to foodrnstamps, still reigns triumphant, with hardly a rival, in the emptyrncorridors of the Western mind. How failed? The church isrndisestablished, after all;...

little chance of influencing mainstream (i.e., liberal) opinion.rnChristians used to say the same thing about patriarchy andrnwomen in the clergy, and it was not long before “scholars” werernfound to “discover” that, yes, there were priestesses in thernearly Church, the Earth is flat, and the sun rises in the West.rnLiberals, because of their ideological commitments, cannot...

close enough to be considered first cousins of the Christianrnfaith; while others, such as Jainism and liberalism, are so alienrnto Christianity as to make dialogue profitless. Liberalism, itrngoes without saying, is the dominant point of view of the rulingrnclasses of Europe and the United States. It is the opiate ofrnthe sophomore, who thinks he has...

Dallas,” that bastion of academic civil liberties, the AAUP, refusedrnto defend him, Oliver is a major scholar, an expert on,rnamong other things, the textual tradition of Tacitus, and whilernhis dislike for Jews and Christians has induced him to sayrnmany foolish things, he has not, so far as I know, lied about thernsubjects on which his...

VIEWSrnTo Hell With Culturernby John Lukacsrn^^ I he corruption of man,” Emerson wrote, “is followed byrnX the corruption of language.” The reverse is true, and arncentury later Georges Bernanos had it right: “The worst, thernmost corrupting lies are problems wrongly stated.” How pertinentrnthis is about so many matters present, including the usernof the word culture....

now. Matthew Arnold suggested it powerfully in “DoverrnBeach.” What he eould not yet see was the evolution—or therndevolution—of intellectuals, convinced as the latter were thatrnthe superiority of culture over civilization was represented byrntheir superiority over the philistines. Yet we can see that intellectualsrnmay become, or indeed be, even less civilized thanrnare philistines. (Especially when intellectuals...

nearly 20 years in schools, with the result that most of themrncannot read and write and express themselves adequately.rnThis has something to do with the propaganda about the InformationrnExplosion. (“Explosion,” with its destructive connotation,rnis the mot juste.) There is a breakdown of communication,rnpart and parcel of the breakdown of civilization, anrninformation “culture” that has nothing...

habitual (and recognizable) criminal and the common citizenrnhas now spilled over into vast areas of society, and I am not evenrnthinking of the criminality of drug abusers. I am thinking ofrnthe awful fact—and it is a fact—that large numbers of parttimernburglars and part-time robbers and part-time prostitutesrnnow regard themselves, and are not infrequently regarded byrnothers,...

happening) but whether electronic documents will enhance—rnor be used as an excuse to destroy—the print-based library.rnWhen it comes to the “Is the Book Dead?” debate, one canrnfind in the writings and speeches of even sensible pundits,rnpoliticians, and academics the kind of semantic confusion andrnelision that bespeaks the half-digested idea, the failure to thinkrnthrough what one...

It is a refreshing, but rare, experience to read or hear fromrnsomeone who questions the economic feasibility and practicalityrnof the bookless future envisaged bv the technovandals. Itrnis even rarer to hear someone ask, “Even if we can do thesernthings, why would we want to?” One person who asks thesernquestions to brilliant effect is Walt Crawford,...

United States, had merely changed the story’s setting fromrnEngland to her native land, substituted Hindu for Christianityrnwherever appropriate in the text, and then purloined virtuallyrnverbatim whatever was left. The Goudge estate in Englandrnwas so incensed that it pressed Ballantine not only for a publicrncondemnation of the plagiarism but for a worldwide recall ofrnall copies of...

thing this would make judges of prizes and examiners ofrndoctoral students more conscientious at their work.)rnThe reader will not, however, find this passage in Wills’rnchapter-long paean to King: he buried this at the end of thernbook in a long footnote on pages 311 and 312. But if Wills didrnthis in propitiation for his sin of...

construed as ultimate values, and less advantaged power groupsrntransitionally mask themselves in the cloak of nonjudgmentalrnmulticulturalism, value discussion is itself unavoidably discouraged.rn(Those having grabbed the best seats, if only by defaultrnor by successful ascription of inherited guilt to others, findrnnothing to gain in any further discussion of the seating arrangements,rnand therefore they do their best...

nizean monads, we are now discovering, that lack windows.rnMore than once I have referred to the metaphysical, implyingrnits absence from contemporary educational discussion.rnThe wonderful German word Armutszeugnis might best berntranslated as “confession of inner poverty,” and surely this describesrnthe intellectual future engineered for us by the educationalrnbureaucrats. A little over 200 years ago the philosopherrnKant...

lacked if he had demanded a recount.rnTom Wicker wrote these long-forgottenrnsentences in the New York Times: “Nobodyrnknows to this day whom the Americanrnpeople really elected President inrn1960. Under the prevailing system JohnrnF. Kennedy was inaugurated but it wasrnnot at all clear if this was really the will ofrnthe people, or, if so, by what means...

the second syllable. There isrnnothing chilly about that final syllable,rnit is short, shiny, even brilliant,rnthat springy sound of a rill.rnThe sound of the full name is seriousrnand humorous: it has a malerncharm about it: it is like thernbaroque fountains of Blenheim.rnLukacs’s observations on other culturesrnalso deserve praise—and quotation.rnAsides like “it is a good queue becausernit...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnWinthrop Universityrnby Luther M. Boggs, Ji.rnOn Campus With the NationalrnAIDS QuiltrnIt was a sleepy Sunday afternoon whenrna section of the national AIDS quiltrnvisited Winthrop University. The sun,rnslipping low into the tops of the pines,rnshown red across the sparsely populatedrncampus. With many students still enjoyingrnthe waning hours of anotherrnweekend spent elsewhere. Rock Hill,rnSouth Carolina, was...

Awards, every MTV Music VideornAwards, every benefit, tribute, dog show,rnand peep show since Reagan left. No indifferencernhere. (Perhaps no differencerneither, but that is another story.)rnAnd what of those gathered that Sundayrnafternoon, the kids with mile-longrnfaces staring blankly at the giant panelsrnof the AIDS quilt, addressing themselvesrnto the “Caring One” and holding littlerncandles? Were they, like...

worried, because teachers had told themrnthat the newly elected slate of threern”Back to Basics” candidates, who nowrnheld the majority on the five-memberrnschool board, would remove calculatorsrnand computers from math classrooms,rnterminate physical education programs,rnand tear down designer playgroundrnequipment. Self-pity and demonizationrndominated the immediate reactions ofrnLittleton’s “outcome-based” educatorsrnto the repudiation of their theories atrnthe polls. Perhaps at...

by Drury, of “Fourteen Areas of Concern”rnto the committee. These concernsrnincluded unresolved issues of remediationrn(what if a child “flunked” one ofrnthe 65 “assessments”) and a delicatelyrnphrased question of final authority:rn”Who is it that determines when thernproficiency standards will be implemented?”rnThe committee first responded withrnsilence (noted in Cisney’s transcript)rnthen took the list under considerationrnand scheduled discussion...

I was also under pressure from the localrnimmigration authorities to leave therncountry. As they explained it, “Touristsrneventually go home”; I had been askingrnthem to renew my tourist visa every 30rndays for far too long. If I left Honduras,rnthey said—even if just for a few days—rnthey would feel better about my “tourist”rnstatus. It was then that...

stamped without the slightest hassle andrnwithout paying one cent. This is so therncop can be done with us and take hisrnBrazilian friend (with whom he nowrncommunicates with ease) home to meetrnhis futebol-crazed children.rnMy first unpleasant surprise uponrnreaching Belize is the large number ofrnpeople inquiring whether they can get arnseat on our boat for its return...

are turning blue. After two and a halfrnhours, we reach the very same cay wernstopped at on the journey to Belize—rnhalf-way cay. We cruise up to the beach.rnEl Capitan shuts off the motor and announces,rnFIgolfo es un penal (The Gulfrnis a bitch!) Nos esperamos aqui. (We’llrnwait here.) Que largo? (How long?)rnAmanana. (Until tomorrow.) Never inrnyour...

Given the chance to write autobiographicalrnsquibs I’ve sometimes resortedrnto misdirection: “Mr. Reed, a Tennesscean,”rnfor instance, or “John Reedrngrew up in Kingsport, Tennessee.” But Irnthought I’d better tell the FBI the truth.rnSo the White House—my own Presidentrnthat I voted for—outed me. That’srnright up there for betrayal with havingrnthe dictator of communist Russia to dinnerrn(which came later).rnIt...

VITAL SIGNSrnHire Educationrnby Mary PridernTechnology as ReformrnHigher education has become hirerneducation. That is the message ofrna series of recent books by RichardrnMitchell, Charles Sykes, Thomas Sowell,rnRoger Kimball, Dinesh D’Souza, andrnRichard Huber. All of these writersrnwould like to see academia reformed.rnTheir proposals range from abolishingrntenure (D’Souza and Sowell) to abolishingrnracial quotas (D’Souza and Sowell),rnto requiring professors...

their computer keyboards.rn* Many businesses are nowrnoffering “distance learning” programsrnto their employees. Onernsuch program provider, NationalrnTechnological University inrnColorado, issues more continuingrneducation and advanced engineeringrndegrees than any otherrnAmerican institution.rn* The need to retrain for newrncareers, or keep current with newrntechnology, is leading increasingrnnumbers of adults to some formrnof distance learning.rn* Online communications arernbecoming easier to master....

don’t offer their money’s worth—becausernpeople are going to have a choice.”rnWe’re not talking Tomorrowland, either.rnAsk Don Foshee. He’s the newlyrnelected president of the USDLA andrnalso the director of distance learning atrnV-Tel Corporation. (They make videoconferencingrnequipment for educators,rnand more of it than anyone else.) Fosheernsays, “It’s not a matter of whether it is goingrnto change—it is...

“Caribbean Legion.” Both the man andrnthe organization were later acknowledgedrnto have been under CIA control.rnOther information in the handbookrnmade it clear that in the 1950’s Castrornhad received both financing and favorablernpublicity from the United States,rnas well as conceptual and organizationalrnhelp. Washington’s response was to retrievernall the copies of the Cuba handbookrnthat had already been sent...

condoms, and highly olfactored disinfectant.rnThe rainforest green cinderblockrnwalls rank high on the pacificityrnindex, as do the subliminal CDedrndolphin sounds. The Release Room ensuedrnwhen New Covenant footballrngames were increasingly violenced fromrnthe stands. This uptick was a surprise inrnitself, for at this timepoint football nonhierarchiesrnand conciliates. The testosteroncdrnangularity of the gridiron seguedrnmultiple temporal units ago to a...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnView From a Campfirern”Been up the Hams Fork yet?”rn”I took a drive there last weekend.”rn”How far did you get?”rn”Ahiiost to the guard station. There’srna hellacious mudhole just south of it.”rn”How about Fontenelle?”rn”I ain’t tried it myself, but they say it’srndry to the Forest boundary. There’s twornfoot of snow yet past...