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Category Archives: Society and Culture
Against the Machine
At some point during college, I tried to work out what an ideal human society might look like. This was back when I still strongly identified with the left, but my dreams were not of a world state and a … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Society and Culture
Tagged essays, Man vs Machine, Paul Kingsnorth, Technology and Society
7 Comments
Crunchy Cons: The Reread
Eleven years ago I stumbled onto a book called Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher. I’d begun moving towards ‘localism’ in my later progressive period (circa 2009 – 2011), and had found unexpected insight in online magazines with some localist-oriented writing … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Society and Culture
Tagged Christianity, education, environmentalism, food, Judaism, marriage and family, Orthodoxy, religion, ReRead, Rod Dreher, sacramental living
4 Comments
The Unsettling of America, audio edition
It was twelve years ago that I met a man named Jayber Crow, and met too, his author — Wendell Berry. Berry is one of my very favorite living authors, and would probably still make the list of favorite authors … Continue reading
Short rounds: Idols, community, and baseball bros
Despite appearances, I have been reading this past week… Elizabeth Scalia’s Strange Gods: Unmasking the Idols of Everyday Life invites readers to consider those things which get between them and God. I heard sermons on this topic in my youth … Continue reading
Troubled
Selected Quotations Imagine that your first memory is that of being three years old and seeing your mother, a drug addict who ties you to chairs to get high without interruption, being arrested. Imagine being bounced around ten different foster … Continue reading
How To Stay Married
On an ordinary day, a book called How to Stay Married would have never broached my radar, given the dismal marriage prospects of eccentric librarians, but as it happened one of my favorite authors mentioned Harrison Scott Key last week … Continue reading
Distracted by Alabama
Jim Brown moved to Alabama in the 1970s to teach history at Samford University, and became fascinated by Alabama, both by its wild biodiversity and its people and their folk traditions, from shape-note singing to basket-weaving and herbalism. Distracted by Alabama … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, science, Society and Culture
Tagged Alabama, culture, ecology, environmentalism, folklore, science
1 Comment
The Reactionary Mind
Arise, you consumers, from your slumber – arise, ye impoverished of purpose! Michael Penn Warren here picks up his pen in defense of medieval civilization, self-reliance, Luddism, and letter-writing. He bids the reader smash his cellphone and … Continue reading
Mythic Realms
“It’s our duty to search out anywhere the excellent that exists within culture, and to promote it — because the excellent is always going to be in the minority. Excellence is the particular, whereas crud is universal. We find only … Continue reading
Posted in Classics and Literary, Reviews, Society and Culture
Tagged arts-entertainment, Brad Birzer, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, literature, religion
6 Comments
Naked at Lunch
Naked at Lunch: Adventures of a Reluctant Nudist© 2015 Mark Haskell Smith288 pages Beware all enterprises which require new clothes, Henry David Thoreau opined. Say what you will about naturism, or nudism – it’s the only hobby I can think … Continue reading
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