Saturday, June 11, 2022

Saturday Good Reads - June 11, 2022


This year, and this summer, marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Watergate scandal, a “burglary” that ultimately led to Richard Nixon’s resignation from the presidency. Two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, were a major part of the news coverage that uncovered the trail of misdeeds to the Oval Office. But did you know there was a third member of the reporting team, one whose name is largely forgotten? Joshua Benton at Nieman Lab tells the story of Barry Sussman.  

Lenny Wells was a county extension agent, one of thousands of such agents who are an often unnoticed but vital part of American agriculture. Early in his career, he attended a national conference of extension agents in Cincinnati – and found himself riding with two other agents in the back seat of a car driven by a farmer across the Ohio in Kentucky – a farmer named Wendell Berry.

 

Twelve years ago, Bradley Birzer published an essay about G.K. Chesterton, J.R. R. Tolkien, and T.S. Eliot and their stirrring words for the times they faced and the task ahead. The Imaginative Conservative, where it was published, calls it a “timeless essay,” and republished it yesterday. And with good reason. Read “The Privilege of Little Words and Mighty Swords.”

 

Faith

 

A Case for the Longer Ending of Mark – James Snapp, Jr. at Text and Canon Institute.

 

Five Rays of Light – Rod Dreher at The American Conservative.

 

Life and Culture

 

In defense of Joshua Katz: A mother-in-law’s manifesto – Kari Jensen Gold at The Spectator.

 

Memory in the age of impunity – Peter Pomerantsev at Coda.

 

Open and Closed: From Russia to China to America, the Largest Societies are Pushing Their Limits – Robert Thornett at Front Porch Republic.

 

The Great Resignation as a Sign of the Times – Mara Cable at Church Life Journal.

 

Ukraine

 

How to end the war in Ukraine – Patrick Porter at The Critic Magazine.

 

Is Ukraine’s cultural heritage under coordinated attack? – The Art Newspaper.

 

Art

 

The Stone Hefter – Jack Baumgartner at The School for the Transfer of Energy.

 

A New Home for Munch’s Scream – Lee Cheshire at The Art Newspaper.

 

Writing and Literature

 

The Characters That Shape Us – Kathryn Butler at Story Warren.

 

On Reading My Memoir to My Father – Séamas O'Reilly at Literary Hub.

 

Eudora Welty's 'The Optimist’s Daughter' at fifty – Micah Mattix at The Spectator.

 

Renunciation and Re-enchantment – Corbin Barthold at Front Porch Republic.

 

Poetry

 

Summer Morning – Jane Dougherty at Jane Dougherty Writes.

 

A Tribute to Mrs. Malaprop – Brian Yapko at Society of Classical Poets.

 

A Sonnet for Trinity Sunday – Malcolm Guite.

 

News Media

 

The New Yorker profiles a pro-life ob-gyn student, and the Twitter mobs descend – Julia Duin at Get Religion.

 

Gannett is scuttling daily editorial pages at its regional papers – Rick Edmonds at Poynter.

 

Opinion Pieces (Including This One) Are Ruining the Internet – Jakob Moll at Nieman Reports.

 

This is the Day – CityAlight


Painting: Lady with a Book in the Garden, oil on canvas (1892) 
by Brunner František Dvořák (1862-1927). 

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