Saturday, November 25, 2023

Saturday Good Reads - Nov. 25, 2023


It was another wild week in the story of Israel and the Palestinians. After Osama bin Laden’s “Message to America” went viral online, The Guardian removed it from its web site and even Tik Tok took down the posts while denying it gone viral. (Tik Tok is looking over its shoulder at the U.S. Senate, and with good reason). Meanwhile, the reporter at The Los Angeles Times who signed a protest letter over how the paper was covering the war found themselves banned from doing any stories on it for three months. 

If you’re wondering why the Global Left is marching for Palestine, Jeffrey Herf at American Purpose explains that Hamas revised its charter in 2017 – and when it did, it tapped into the narratives of the Left. That also partially explains what happened on American college campuses, including attacks on and threats against Jewish students. As Roger Kimball at The Spectator writes, the cheerleading for Hamas has provided a rather shattering moment of moral clarity

 

When Disney dropped The Sound of Freedom movie (rescuing children from sex trafficking isn’t Disney’s thing), it likely didn’t expect that its rejection would lead to a $200 million success story. But it did. Like everything else, the movie became a football in the culture wars (surprise). Considering the movie and others, Robert Jackman at The Spectator takes a look at 2023’s rise in Christian cinema

 

More Good Reads

 

Writing and Literature

 

The Stories of William Faulkner: Mississippi’s Talebearer – review by James Campbell at The Wall Street Journal.

 

Shouldering the Burden of Belief: Reviewing Shusaku Endo’s Historical Novels ‘Silence’ and ‘The Samurai’ – Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review.

 

José Donoso Saw the Future of the Latin American Boom – Zachary Issenberg at The Millions.

 

Lessons on Limiting Liberty from Hannah and Burley Coulter – Isaac Wood at Front Porch Republic

 

Poetry

 

Things Worth Remembering: The Solitary Lines That Stick – Douglas Murray at The Free Press.

 

A Guide to Finally Understanding T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets (Audio Lecture) – Andy Patton at The Rabbit Room. 

 

Tywyn – poem and photograph by Sonja Benskin Mesher.

 

How the Poet John Milton Responded When He Blind in His 40s – Justin Taylor at The Gospel Coalition.

 

Life and Culture

 

Modern world knows how to hoard lots of ‘stuff,’ but struggles with the higher virtues – Terry Mattingly at Get Religion.

 

When Things Fall Apart – Martin Gurri at The Free Press.

 

News Media

 

US lost more than two local newspapers a week this year, new Medill report finds – Angela Fu at Poynter.

 

Faith

 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s conversion from Islam to Christianity: Such a big story, so little coverage – Julia Duin at Get Religion.

 

Finding a Bigger Story – Isabel Quinlan at Seth Lewis.

 

Karl Marx Has Won the Culture, But He Will Not Win the War – Jim Hamilton at Eikon / The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

 

Art

 

Morris Goldstein, the Lost Whitechapel Boy – Spitalfields Life.

 

American Stuff

 

Battlefielding with Family – Sherritta Bitikofer at Emerging Civil War.

 

A Change in the Air – The Piano Guys



 Painting: Nouvelle de labsent, oil on canvas by Alfred Stevens (1823-1906).

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