Category Archives: Society and Culture

Present Concerns and even more Lewis quotes

Posted on December 17, 2020 by smellincoffee

Although Present Concerns’ title makes it sound as though it consists of essays by Lewis written about 1940s issues,   the contents still speak to our present day.  One of the passages, quoted to me from a friend, leapt out … Continue reading →

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Is Reality Optional?

Posted on November 17, 2020 by smellincoffee

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” – F.A. Hayek From economist and cultural critic Thomas Sowell come this amusingly-titled collection of essays,  loosely gathered … Continue reading →

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The Vanishing American Adult

Posted on September 15, 2020 by smellincoffee

The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming of Age Crisis , and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance© 2017 Ben Sasse320 pages Why are teenagers and young adults floundering into maturity? Ben Sasse believes that much of the problem is … Continue reading →

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The Coddling of the American Mind

Posted on September 7, 2020 by smellincoffee

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up a Generation for Failure© 2018 Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt352 pages There was a time when I was a youthful idealist, full of love and … Continue reading →

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Why We Hate and How to Heal

Posted on February 15, 2019 by smellincoffee

Them: Why We Hate and How to Heal  © 2018 Ben Sasse 272 pages The tenor of civil ‘discourse’ in America today is disheartening and distressful, in part for at least over a decade there has been little discourse at all, … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Brave New World Revisited

Posted on July 24, 2018 by smellincoffee

Brave New World Revisited© 1958 Aldhous Huxley144 pages Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1931)  transported readers to a deeply creepy nightmare-vision of the future, in which man had disappeared as an independent being, instead becoming the raw materials for a new, … Continue reading →

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Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination Of Your Child

Posted on August 18, 2017 by smellincoffee

Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination Of Your Child© 2010 Anthony Esolen256 pages In the spirit of The Screwtape Letters comes this, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination Of Your Child.  Anthony Esolen opens by observing that the western world … Continue reading →

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Affluenza

Posted on February 13, 2017 by smellincoffee

Affluenza: the All-Consuming Epidemic© 2001, 2004, 2014  John de Graaf, David Wann, Thomas Naylor288 pages In getting and spending, we lay waste to all our powers — so sayeth the poet. Originally published in 2001, Affluenza is a critique of consumerism, … Continue reading →

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Out of the Ashes

Posted on February 9, 2017 by smellincoffee

Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture© 2017 Anthony Esolen256 pages Some things, like a Roman bridge, can last for millennia through the virtue of their design, the simplicity of their use, and the inherent strength of their materials. Other … Continue reading →

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Seeing like a State

Posted on October 9, 2014 by smellincoffee

Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition have Failed© 1999 James Scott464 pages             Seeing like a State scrutinizes the organizational approach of state governments and other large institutions from the … Continue reading →

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