Saturday, October 29, 2022

Saturday Good Reads - Oct. 29, 2022

The Waste Land by T.S Eliot is considered the most influential poem of the 20th century. It didn’t make much of a stir when it was published in 1922, but like many things literary, its influence grew enormously over time. In honor of the poem’s 100th anniversary, Literary Hub asked four writers and academics (among them, Robert Crawford, Eliot’s most recent biographer), to discuss the poem’s importance and legacy. At the same publication, poet David Barnes describes (or opines) how the poem came to be


If public schools (like the ones I attended) still teach anything about the famous minister Jonathan Edwards, it’s only his well-known sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” But Edwards was far more than a single sermon. His “New England School” of Theology raised up a generation of ministers who favored abolition of slavery. Obie Tyler Todd at Desiring God discusses how Edwards’ thinking spread westward, and what happened when it traveled to the South.

 

The number of newspaper endorsements of presidential candidates has been in serious decline since 2012. Joshua Benton at Neiman Lab takes a look at the “what” and the “why” of the decline. (On a less lofty level, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch just endorsed the Republican candidate for St. Louis County executive in the Nov. 8 election. It’s a measure of just how bad things are going in the county.)

 

More Good Reads

 

Faith

 

The Sacred Call to Normal Work: How the Reformation Renewed Vocation – Brian Hanson at Desiring God. 

 

Who Was David Brainerd? – Dustin Benge at Ligonier Ministries.

 

Which Man Was More Free? – Tim Challies.

 

The view from the cave: On turning 50 in a storm – Paul Kingsnorth at The Abbey of Misrule.

 

Grateful for the Baby We Never Knew – Sylvia Schroeder at When the House is Quiet.

 

News Media

 

 What Happens When a Newspaper Dies? – John Miller at The Daily Yonder.

 

Where did the Tweeters go? Twitter is losing its most active users, internal document show – Sheila Dang at Reuters.

 

Poetry

 

Sunday Sermon – Graham Hillard at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

Heroes and Villains – Seth Lewis.

 

‘Cemetery’ and ‘Winter Moment’ – Paul Buchheit at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Ukraine

 

A Strange and Brutal Country: New BBC series on Russia’s late 20th century collapse – Christopher Snowden at Quillette.

 

Poetry After Bucha: Serhiy Zhadan on Ukraine, Russia, and the Demands War Makes of Language – at Literary Hub.

 

The lesson of 2022: energy is our lifeblood. The Ukraine war reminds us we need it in abundance, whether we like it or not – The Spectator.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Reading Aloud: Enjoying the Present Together – Rebecca LeVake at Story Warren.

 

Data Won't Save Art: More thoughts on book sales, publishing data, and algorithmic culture – Lincoln Michel at Counter Craft.

 

American Stuff

 

The Ghosting of Thomas Jefferson – Jerry Salyer at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Life and Culture

 

Reject the Consumer: Imagining a New Identity Politics – Wes Jackson & Robert Jensen at Front Porch Republic.

 

The New Gatekeepers – Michael Lind at Tablet Magazine.

 

Every Step – City Alight



 Painting: Portrait of Edmond Maitre, oil on canvas by Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919).

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