Posts by Bruce Edward Walker
May 05, 2018
ICYMI: Over at The Federalist this past Friday, Ethics and Public Policy Center Fellow Luma Simms reviews Pope Francis and the Caring Society. As noted in my April 18 review, the collection of essays includes perceptive and educational insights from Acton’s own Samuel Gregg as well as many others, including Phillip Booth. Continue Reading...
April 23, 2018
The decline of Western civilization, redux
A review of Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics Is Destroying American Democracy by Jonah J. Goldberg, Crown Forum, 2018, 442 pp., $28.
Suicide of the West is intended as a “serious” work, which it is indeed. Continue Reading...
April 18, 2018
A polite rebuke of Pope Francis’ economic confusion
Review of Pope Francis and the Caring Society, edited by Robert M. Whaples; The Independent Institute, Oakland, CA; 2017, 234 pp.
Having toiled in the free-market research universe for nearly two decades, perhaps the most common misperception I’ve encountered is “whataboutism.” Continue Reading...
April 09, 2018
Virtues, once again
“Crisis of Responsibility: Our Cultural Addiction to Blame and How You Can Cure It,” by David L. Bahnsen; Foreward by David French; PostHill Press, 2018; 170 pp.; $26.
It’s been a long, hard slog on humanity’s path to the current century and its peculiar predicaments. Continue Reading...
February 21, 2018
Study: GMOs increase crop yields, reduce ag toxins
“Our mission is to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.”
Some readers might assume the epigraph above derives from some classic of moral and economic literature – perhaps, say, Adam Smith’s A Wealth of Nations or A Theory of Moral Sentiments. Continue Reading...
October 25, 2017
Jerry Pournelle, Russell Kirk Conservative: RIP
Jerry Pournelle passed away in early September and is memorialized in this week’s “Upstream” segment of the Radio Free Acton podcast. An accomplished man in many fields in both the public and private sectors, he perhaps is best known as the author and co-author of a shelf-full of science-fiction novels. Continue Reading...
September 20, 2017
Czeslaw Milosz: Poet Laureate of Freedom
[A review of Milosz: A Biography by Andrzej Franasszek, edited and translated by Aleksandra and Michael Parker, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge University, 2017, 526 pp., $35]
“What is poetry which does not save/Nations or people?” Continue Reading...
September 13, 2017
Upstream: A Conversation on Artist Renee Radell
On the Upstream segment of this week’s Radio Free Acton podcast, I discuss the visual art of Renee Radell with Gregory Wolfe. Radell’s work is the subject of Renee Radell: Web of Circumstance (Predmore Press, 2016, 220 pages, $80), a book presenting a career overview of her artistic efforts. Continue Reading...
July 13, 2017
Lenin’s Trip to Infamy
One hundred years ago, the man Winston Churchill dubbed a “plague bacillus” journeyed back from his exile in Europe to eventually seize the reins of power in his native Russia. Vladimir Lenin’s itinerary could not have been more fraught with peril and subterfuge, which makes it an ideal framing story for a recap of the rise of 20th century totalitarianism. Continue Reading...
May 18, 2017
Hemingway, Hollywood and Communism
Red-phobia is once again all the rage. Today, the question asked by the media and politicians is whether Russia had a hand in turning the U.S. election in Donald Trump’s favor. Continue Reading...