He was born more than 30 years after the end of the Civil War, but that conflict shaped William Faulkner and his writing more than any other single factor – and this despite that he rarely if ever wrote about the war directly. Author Michael Gorra wrote a book about it, The Saddest Words: William Faulkner’s Civil War, and he talks about it on a podcast with Chris Mackowski at Emerging Civil War. (I read Gorra’s book while doing research on my historical novel, and it's excellent.)
While a few diehard conspiracy theorists still cling to the claims of “Russiagate,” the legacy media have generally moved on, with very few acknowledging how they themselves helped to propagate it. Now we had something credibly substantiated: Britaingate. The Britain-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), founded by the man who is now the chief of staff for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, apparently put both the Trump campaign and Elon Musk’s Xsocial medium in its crosshairs. Leaked files show how the elimination of X was the group’s main target. And then there’s Labourgate – with Britain’s Labour Party sending activists to campaign for Harris. So if it’s Russia or China trying to interfere, it’s bad, but British interference is good?
Samuel James at Digital Liturgies is a fan of the rock group Coldplay (full disclosure: I share at least some of his enthusiasm). He listed to the group’s recently released album – and was disappointed. But he realized something about the album and culture generally, and he understood how that album explained our current political situation. Another full disclosure: I think his analysis is spot on.
More Good Reads
Life and Culture
A Good Death? – Warren Peel at Gentle Reformation.
What is New York’s Abortion Amendment Hiding? – Maud Maron at Tablet Magazine.
Bring That Hammer Down – a talk by Paul Kingsnorth, The Abbey of Misrule.
Actually Existing Postliberalism – Nathan Pinkoski at First Things Magazine.
The Post-Cold War Apotheosis of Liberal Managerialism: A response to Nathan Pinkoski – N.S. Lyons at The Upheaval.
Writing and Literature
The Long Defeat of History: Tolkien’s hope for the entropy of ages – Jake Meador at Comment Magazine.
The Story Behind Shogun – Sky / History UK.
British Stuff
‘Vessel’: An Art Trail Along Remote Rural Churches in the Black Mountains of Wales – David Trigg at Religion Unplugged.
She Was Arrested for Praying in Her Head – Madeline Kearns at The Free Press.
The Last Great Englishman: Arthur Wellesley – M.E. Bradford at The Imaginative Conservative.
WW2 Helmets Found in France Linked to SS Massacre – Katy Prickett at BBC News.
American Stuff
Independent and Unaligned – Ana Kasparian at Unaligned.
BLM Collected Over $90 Million in Donations. Where Did It Go? – Sean Patrick Cooper at The Free Press.
News Media
I am (not) one of the most 57 powerful people in media – Hamish McKenzie.
Why Is The New York Times Not Disclosing a Source’s Ties to Hamas? – Olivia Reingold at The Free Press.
Faith
It Was Never Just ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ – Daniel Darling at The Remnant.
Assisted Suicide and the Meaning of Life – Seth Lewis.
Letter #149: The Punchline of the Universe – Spencer Klavan at The New Jerusalem.
Poetry
“Alcaics: To H.F.B.,” poem by Robert Louis Stevenson – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Israel
Ad for Israel Book Canceled Because ‘Customers Might Complain’ – Francesca Block at The Free Press.
His Glory and My Good – CityAlight
Painting: Scholar Reading an Illuminated Manuscript, oil on canvas by Claus Meyer (1856-1919).
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