Saturday Good Reads

It was a good week for classic American literature. Bradley Birzer at The Imaginative Conservative took a look at James Fenimore Cooper and the American Republic, and Sarah Kay Bierle at Emerging Civil War discovered she liked Red Badge of Courage after all. I even read a classic American short story, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville. But not all is well. Charlotte Allen at Quillette cites the recent flare-up over Flannery O’Connor as an example of the ideological war on literature. 

Over the centuries, St. Thomas A’ Beckett has had his ups and downs. Originally a martyred hero for the faith, in more recent times he’s been deconstructed, if not outright canceled. Rec. Steve Morris at The Critic thinks London’s great saint needs a reboot.

Yoram Hazony is president of the Herzl Foundation in Jerusalem and chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation. He’s published a book called The Virtue of Nationalism, so you know right away he’s likely to be sympathetic to things like national borders and unsympathetic to things like “global citizens.” For Quillette, he’s written a longish discussion about Marxism, which is becoming the prevailing mindset among America’s academic, media, corporate, and political elites. They would never call it that, but that’s what it is. Judging by the comments, the article has also generated a healthy round of debate.

More Good Reads

Culture

Neither Past Nor Future – Brian Miller at The South Roane Agrarian.

Apocalypse, Again and Again and… – Jake Lee at Very Much Later.

We’re Still Living in the World That Inspired Animal Farm —75 Years Later – Tea Obreht at Time Magazine.

Hydroxychloroquine: A Morality Tale – Norman Doidge at Tablet Magazine.

Do You Trust Your Doctor? – Samuel D. James at Letters & Liturgy.

Poetry

Altars of Attention and August Morning – James Crews at Plough Books.

We Came Together with an Open Mind – James Allen Kennedy at Society of Classical Poets.

I’m in your screen // a spoken word poem – Seth Lewis.

Three Poems – I. Lamar Wilson at South Writ Large.

“The Riddle” and “The Horse Angel” – Marly Youmans at Cunning Folk.

Writing and Literature

In the Study, with a Typewriter: 100 Years of Agatha Christie Novels – Liz Scheier at Publishers Weekly.

An Open Letter to Barnes & Noble – Rob Eager at WildFire Marketing.

Mrs. Bridge Is a Perfect Novel. But How Does It Work? – Emily Temple at Literary Hub.

Remembering Elizabeth Spencer – Sally Greene at South Writ Large.

Faith

J.I. Packer: A Personal Remembrance – Terry Johnson at Reformation21. 

Feeds on Fire: What Christians Can Bring to Online Conflict – Greg Morse at Desiring God.

Why is the Culture Dark and Decaying? – Keith Mathison at Light in Dark Places.

6 Surprises About Church Gathering Again – Eric Geiger.

American Stuff

Echoes of the Reconstruction Era, July 2020 – Patrick Young at Emerging Civil War.

The German island with a population of 16 – BBC News

Painting: Girl Reading, oil on canvas by Emil Rau (1858-1937).