Saturday Good Reads – Nov. 7, 2026

This past week, we watched the movie Pressure (2206), about the final 72 hours of the run-up to the D. Day invasion in World War II. The top three stars are Brendan Fraser as Dwight Eisenhower, Damian Lewis as a rather nasty Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and Andrew Scott in an incredible performance as British meteorologist James Stagg. It is Stagg who must determine if the weather allows a go or no-go for the invasion. It’s riveting. History Extra has a podcast on the true story behind the movie.  

Historians (and everybody else) will likely argue until Doomsday about the role the Christian faith played in the founding of the United States. But the U.S. Constitution was itself based on several state constitutions, which were based on various Puritan covenants, which were based on the Bible. Jerry Newcombe at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics explains the importance of the first English Bible printed in the United States.

 

We know that C.S. Lewis’s Anglican faith helped shape the writing of The Chronicles of Narnia. But what about J.R.R. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings? D.J. Taylor at Literary Hub explains how it was Tolkien’s Catholic faith that shaped not only LOTR but all of his writings. 

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

Hessian Origins of the Headless Horseman – Evan Portman at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

Atlas of Independence now available in audio – Chris Mackowski at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

How Three Powers Became Three Branches – Charles Lincoln at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

Life and Culture

 

NYC public schools deceived me into thinking my son was a straight-A math student. But he can’t do fractions, basic algebra – David Spector at the New York Post.

 

News Media

 

The Victorian Origins of Investigative Journalism – Stephen Donovan and Matthew Rubery at History Today.

 

A Daring Suggestion for Netflix – Tim Challies.

 

Writing and Literature

 

On Longsuffering – Jacob Adkins at Front Porch Republic.

 

How J.R.R. Tolkien’s Strong Catholic Faith Influenced His Writing – D.J. Taylor at Literary Hub.

 

Magic in Middle-Earth – Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

The Inconstant Reader – Jeffrey Streter at English Republic of Letters.

 

British Stuff

 

Charles Dickens’ writing chalet among UK landmarks at risk of being lost – Emily Beament at The Independent.

 

Israel

 

The End of an Era – Michael Oren at Clarity.

 

Poetry

 

“Low Tide,” poem by Sara Teasdale – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Love’s Fine Wit: A Reading of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 23 – K.S. Bernstein at Apple Blossoms in a Mournful Wood.

 

Duc in Altum – poem by Cody Ilardo at Power & Glory.

 

Federal Prison Spontaneous Worship Moment – Lizzie Morgan

Painting: Woman Reading, oil on canvas by  Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). 

Saturday Good Reads – Oct. 31, 2026

It’s Halloween, and we have several good reads for the day: Bradley Birzer looks at Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House;  Amelia Freidline has a go at Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; you can read about “The Witch Hunter Who Helped Shape America’s Witch Trials;” Beth Daley at the Conversation explains where the modern vampire originated, and it’s not where you might think. Joseph Bottum provides the background of Robert Herrick’s poem “The Hag;” And Spitalfields Life takes you on a tour of “The Tombs of Old London.” 

There has been an abundance of posts and articles lately about the death of reading, the end of the traditional book, the decline in book sales, and so one. Everyone seems ready to pronounce the death of books as we know them. Not so fast, says Daniel Darling at One Little Word. He makes the case for why paper books will endure.

 

In the category of “I am not making this up,” Nellie Bowles at The Free Press cited a new report by the United Nations Women organization, “Facts and figures: Women, peace and security.” The big concern: nearly one in four civilian deaths associated with war and violent conflicts around the world are women and girls. The organization also highlighted the statistic with a dramatic graphic on X, formerly known as Twitter. The report does acknowledge, in an offhanded kind of way, that three in four civilian deaths in war and violent conflict are men and boys, but I suppose we need to focus on what’s important.

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

The Sentence That Defines America – M.C. Murphy at The Coolidge Review.

 

Discovering White Plains – Bert Dunkerly at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

Writing and Literature

 

What Haunted George Orwell – John Miller at The Wall Street Journal (story unlocked). 

 

The flesh and bones of Gulliver’s Travels – David Womersley at Engelberg’s Ideas.

 

Souls at Stake – Algis Valiunas at First Things Magazine on the Gothic novel. 

 

Have a Plan for Your Writing – Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

 

The Daunting Art of Selling Fewer Books – Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review.

 

American Stuff

 

New Monument Rising: The Gateway Arch Is Completed in 1965 – Jason Clark at Ths Is the Day.

 

In Defense of Daylight Savings Time – Brevin Anderson at Front Porch Republic.

 

British Stuff

 

Descended from Woden: Why Anglo-Saxon Kings Claimed a Pagan God as Their Ancestor – Calogero Nicosia at English Historical Fiction Authors.

 

Poetry

 

Reading Emily Dickinson at Hallowtide – LuElla D’Amico at Church Life Journal.

 

The Famous Christian Poem We’ve Never Heard Of – David Bannon at Front Porch Republic.

 

“La Belle Dame sans Merci,” poem by John Keats – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Faith

 

Your Cross – Cody Ilardo at Power & Glory.

 

What Remains of Our Remains – Emily Carrington at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

And Can It Be – The Village Chapel Worship

 Painting: Man Reading a Letter in His Study, oil on oak panel (circa 1670) by Adriaen Van Ostade (1610-1685).

Saturday Good Reads - Oct. 24, 2026

I’ve known poet, writer, editor, and publisher L.L. Barkat for 17 years. We met on Twitter, as it was called back then. I read her book Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places. And then God in the Yard. We worked together at The High Calling. And, since 2009, with Tweetspeak Poetry. She’s just published a new poetry collection, The Book of Joy: 100 Poems for Your Heart. You can read Maureen Doallas’s review and an interview with Barkat here. 

Some 25 years ago, we attended a church that, seemingly overnight, discovered the book The Prayer of Jabez, a short work about a very short passage in the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 4:9-10, if you’re interested).  Suddenly, The Prayer of Jabez was everywhere. Our Sunday School class. Men’s Bible studies (and the women, too, for all I know). A sermon series from the pulpit. It was a tidal wave of Jabez. It was also thinly disguised prosperity gospel, and I resisted. This week, I happened cross an article about the passage, which puts it in its proper context.

 

I’m not sure whom is behind the Substack entitled “Abstract Truth,” but a friend provided a link to a post, and I read it. The post is entitled “Men Don’t Hate Reading; They Hate Your Books,” and, in addition to the funny AI-generated illustrations, it contains considerable truth. 

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

From the Red Sea to 1776: How the Exodus Inspired America – Michael Freund at Real Clear History.

 

A Dear-Bought Victory: The Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston 1775-1776 – review by Don Hagist at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

War and Wilderness: British Soldiers in Revolutionary America – Vaughn Scribner at History Today.

 

The Siege of Yorktown – Chris Farmer at Old Dominion Post.

 

The Jewish Patriot Who Died for American Independence – Michael Freund at Real Clear History.

 

Faith

 

Should Christians vote? – Doug Spurling at Spurling Silver.

 

According to the Flesh, According to the Spirit: Christianity as Poem and Myth – Jake Meador at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Pruning – Christine Norvell at Mere Orthodoxy (my review of her book can be found here.)

 

Life and Culture

 

Learning to Love This Land – Frank DeVito at Front Porch Republic.

 

The Great Work: An Interview with David W. Orr – Terry Macker at Front Porch Republic.

 

Walking is Loving: The Liturgy of the Stroll – Gracy Olmstead at Granola.

 

Writing and Literature

 

The New Age of Reading – Nathan Heller at The New Yorker.

 

Cormac McCarthy and the Writing Life – Thomas Kidd.

 

“Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving – read by Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

Poetry

 

“October,” poem by Robert Frost – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Much Has Been Said – David Whyte.

 

“No Coward Soul is Mine,” poem by Emily Bronte – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

British Stuff

 

The Quest for King Arthur – Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Pylons – Jeffrey Streeter at English Republic of Letters.

 

My Song Is Love Unknown – Keith & Kristyn Getty

 Painting: Old Woman Reading a Book, oil on panel by Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), Hermitage Museum.

Saturday Good Reads – Oct. 17, 2026

The (unnamed) writer at A London Inheritance had a post this week about taking a walk in London. She calls pat of the “Rocque Ring,” and it forms the boundary of London in 1745. It begins at the Blue Coat School, located on Caxton Lane at the corner of Buckingham Gate, goes past Buckingham Palace, and then moves up Constitution Hill to Hyde Park. Our hotel – the one we’ve stayed at six times since 2013, is a short block from the Blue Coat School. This was “our neighborhood,” close to Victoria, near the Wellington Guards Barracks, and two blocks from the Palace and St. James’s Park. We could, and often did, walk to Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square, and even Westminster Abbey. And we could, and often did, run into all the protests that are a daily occurrence in London. 

Englishman Henry Oliver, who writes about books, found himself in the Middle South of the United States – Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. And he discovered that there’s nothing boring in America. 

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

Freedom Around the Globe: A World History of the American Revolution by Sarah Persall – review by Timothy Symington at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

Passing Revolutionary History on to the Next Generation – Jim Sanderlin at Real Clear History.

 

The Revolutionary Battle of Valcour Island – Dan McLaughlin at National Review.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Belloc vs. Tolkien: Two Views of Anglo-Saxon England – Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

You Are Formed by What You Listen To; You Are Formed by What You Read – E.J. Larow at After Progress.

 

British Stuff

 

Rules, London’s Oldest Restaurant, Given to the National Trust – Jonathan Thomas at Londontopia.

 

Poetry

 

“Autumn,” poem by John Clare – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

The River & The Sea – poem by Rohini Sunderam at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Sweet Music – poem by Cody Ilardo at Power & Glory.

 

“Caedmon’s Hymn,” poem by Caedmon – Adam Robets at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Life and Culture

 

A Farmer’s Alphabet – Brian Miller at Notes from an East Tennessee Farmer.

 

His Love – Skye Peterson

Painting: An Old Man Reading, oil on panel (1729) by Willem van Mieris (1662-1747).

Saturday Good Reads - Oct. 10, 2026

One thing email and texting has done is almost eliminate the old-fashioned letter. And letters were the stuff of biographers and historians. Example: we know a lot about poets like T.S. Eliot because of the letters he wrote. Another example: Robert Frost. Ben Myers, writing for Portico, looks at Frost’s letters and asks, “Did Robert Frost Despair for His Soul?” 

In 1825, a hero of the America Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette, retuned to America for a visit. He survived the French Revolution, which didn’t treat aristocrats kindly, because the American Revolution and the role he played made him a national hero in France as well. Fifty years later, he came back, and the return was a triumph.

 

I mentioned to my wife the other day that if an art museum wants a successful exhibition, then make it about the Impressionists. There’s one at the St. Louis Art Museum opening Oct. 17 about “Women Impressionists and the Land.” And the new major show at London’s National Gallery is “Renoir and Love,” and Alexandra Wilson at Engelberg Ideas has a report. 

 

More Good Reads

 

Writing and Literature

 

Explaining Wendell Berry – Doug Sikkema at Comment Magazine.

 

Cormac McCarthy’s Desert Wanderings – Michael Crews at Portico.

 

Tolstoy’s Path Out of Skepticism – Marc Sims at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

America 250

 

250 Years Ago, a Cannonball Beheaded a Hessian Soldier. Did He Become the Headless Hoseman? – Ryan Thomas LaBee at Military.com.

 

Life and Culture

 

Ed Sheeran Proves Trueman Right: We All Live in Marx’s World Now – Tim Challies.

 

Poetry

 

A Song Inspired by Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” – Gunny Markefka at Society of Classical Poets.

 

What to Remember When Waking – poem by David Whyte.

 

Philip Larkin by the Book – Dana Gioia at New Verse Review.

 

“The Base Stealer” and “Pitcher,” poems by Robert Francis – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

“Disabled,” poem by Wilfred Owen and “She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways,” poem by William Wordsworth – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Larkin’s Anthology: An Extract from Dana Gioia’s New Catalogue – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.

 

British Stuff

 

Lucinda Douglas-Menzies’ Portraits – Spitalfields Life.

 

History

 

‘Hitler was a lazy criminal who slept in until noon’: why most of what we think we know about the rise of the Nazis is wrong – Philip Oltermann at The Guardian.

 

Faith

 

‘What Is the Meaning of Christian in This American Life?’ – Sarah Rexford at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

“When You Are Old,” poem by W.B. Yeats – Read by Cillian Murphy

Painting: Woman Reading, oil on canvas attributed to Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), The New Art Gallery, Walsall, England.

Saturday Good Reads - Oct. 3, 2026

One of the most moving accounts I read this week was in Front Porch Republic. A writer named Jessica Birke looked at the family home where she grew up, the one that will likely be sold after her parents ae no longer there, and wonders what will happen to the place. She had me at the first line: “The land is mostly quiet now.” 

Next Wednesday, Oct. 7, Tweetspeak Poetry is hosting its Random Acts of Poetry. It’s an annual thing, in which you commit random acts of poetry in public places, including social media. (No, you don’t have to recite poetry in public; you can chalk your driveway, if that works.)  One year, and I believe it was 2015, we were in London when the day arrived. My wife thought I was crazy, and I probably was, but I left short poems on slips of paper in our hotel’s restaurant, in the café at the National Theatre, on the rube and the bus, and in a pew at St. Martin-in-the-Field Church on Trafalgar Square. (I suppose you could say I committed quiet, anonymous acts of random poetry. I almost felt like a poetic counterpart to Banksy.) Anyway, you can find the details and suggestions here. 

 

Yesterday was the anniversary of a vicious attack on the Jewish community on Manchester, England. We’ve had attacks here in the United States, but we haven’t been seeing the rise of anti-Semitism that Britain seems to be experiencing. Perhaps it’s because we’re a larger country. But you just don’t expect to see an attack on a synagogue in the Britain you’ve experienced many times and the Britain of your imagination. But it’s there, and it’s getting worse. Robert Largan at The Critic Magazine looks back in anger at what happened and what it means. 

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

Closing the Ring: George Washington’s War in the North 1778-1781 – review by Sam Short at Journal of the American Revolution. 

 

The Battle of Cowpens: Correcting a Historical Error – Dennis Amos at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

The American Frontier, Native War and Diplomacy – Keli Holt at Just Enough History.

 

Art

 

Curator Q&A: Simon Kelly discusses “Women Impressionists and the Land” – St. Louis Art Museum.

 

British Stuff

 

Hitler ordered my father’s death – but an SS general spared his life – David Lascelles at History Extra.

 

If these stones could talk – Conor McKee at The New Criterion on Stories of the Stones by Paul Robichaud.

 

Poetry

 

“On the Mississippi,” poem by Hamlin Garland – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm – poem by Wallace Stevens.

 

Outsourcing the Sun – poem by Kimberly Joyce Williams at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Israel

 

Israel is Winning – Douglas Murray at The Free Press (article unlocked).

 

Faith

 

Invade or Retreat from Politics? – Greg Koukl at Stand to Reason.

 

American Stuff

 

Author Q&A: Theodore Savas and The Indispensable Man – Civil War Books and authors.

 

Bill Nighy explores The Courtauld Gallery

Painting: Old Man Reading a Book, oil on canvas (1889) by Joaquín Agrasot y Juan (1836-1919).

Saturday Good Reads – Sept. 26, 2026

My first novel, Dancing Priest, begins at the University of Edinburgh with a conversation between a theology student, Michael Kent, and his roommate and best friend, Tommy McFarland. Michael will earn his theology degree and move to San Francisco. More adventures await in the next four books in the series. But if I was writing that novel today, I’d have to do something different – the University of Edinburgh, after 440 years, is dropping its divinity program.  

If you wander around Poet’s Corner in London’s Westminster Abbey, you’ll find an amazing array of tombs and memorial stones – Charles dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer, the World War I poets, Samuel Johnson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis, W.H. Auden, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, and so many more. And now joining them with a memorial plaque will be J.R.R. Tolkien.

 

It was a big week for people reading and writing about classic novels. Richard Rensch at City Journal considered Walker Percy and his novels’ prophetic vision.  Lincoln Michel at Counter Craft read Don Quixote. Henry Oliver at The Common Read delved into Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. And Fiona Macdonald at the BBC found a program in which J.R. R. Tolkien talked about the most tragic moment in The Lord of the Rings. 

 

More Good Reads

 

Television

 

The making of a masterpiece – John MacLeod at The Critic Magazine.

 

America 250

 

The Battles of Saratoga – Chris Farmer at Old Dominion Post.

 

What the Revolution Can Teach Us About Liberty: Conversation Starters with…Wilfred M. McClay – Anthony Sacramone at Acton Institute.

 

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union – Keli Holt at Just Enough History.

 

Life and Culture

 

We know what kind of society we are. We’re just haggling over the price – Stephen McAlpine.

 

Narnia Among the Deathworks – Tim Challies.

 

The Illiterati – Mark Malvasi at Th Imaginative Conservative.

 

10 Reasons Why Marxism is Bad for Humanity – Patricia Engler at Answers in Genesis.

 

What Nikole Hannah-Jones Wouldn’t Let Herself See – Jennifer Weber at City Journal.

 

The Homes That Stick With Us – Gracy Olmstead at Granola.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Books Will Never Die – if Publishers Remember What Books do and How They Do It – Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review.

 

Literary Landscapes: Justin Hamm – Tom Darin Liskey t the New Territory.

 

J.R.R. Tolkien on ‘the most tragic moment in The Lord of the Rings’ – Fiona Macdonald at BBC.

 

Faith

 

The Repeating of Christian History – Shannon Holzer at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

The Coming Tsunami – Scot McKnight.

 

The Lost Art of Manners and Why Children Still Need Them – Brenden Bott at The Gospel Coalition / Canada.

 

News Media

 

The New York Times Sued by Shareholders Over Biased Israel Coverage – Maya Sulkin at The Fre Press (story unlocked).

 

Poetry

 

“Spring and Fall,” poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Our Grieving and Our Staying – David Bannon at Front Porch Republic on Wendell Berry’s poetry.

 

“Recessional,” poem by Rudyard Kiplung – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient & Modern.

 

Abide with Me – King Harald of Norway Funeral

 Painting: A Girl Reading, oil on canvas (1932) by Vanessa Bell (1879-1961).

Some Wednesday Readings - Sept. 23, 2026

 

How I Accidentally Became a Church Librarian – Carolyn Leiloglou at Story Warren.

 

The Joy of Unexpected Books – K.E. Colombini at Front Porch Republic.

 

Nathan Hale Gave His Life for America. We Should Honor That – Michael Freund at Real Clear History.

 

The Painter of the Night: Gerard van Honthorst – Michael De Sapio at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

10 things that don’t belong in a query letter – Nathan Bransford.

 

The Challenge of Wendell Berry: A Personal Assessment – Brian Volck at Church Life Journal.

 

Samuel Johnson: A Great Thinker and a Great Man – Karen Swallow Prior at The Priory.

 

The Rabbit Room Community’s Top 50 Books – The Rabbit Room.

 

Painting: Christ Crowned with Thorns, oil on canvas (circa 1620) by Gerard van Honthurst (1590-1656). 

Saturday Good Reads – September 19, 2026

My wife and I have joke about PBS: When all else fails, do Downton Abbey or some variation on the theme. Reruns, fundraisers – it seems at times it all turns to Downton Abbey and the Crawley family. And now, for the true fan of the famed British television series, comes the spinoff to end all spinoffs – the 4,711-piece Official Downtown Abbey LEGO set, complete with 13 minifigures! And it’s only $349.99! 

Most of what we read about the Declaration of Independence focuses on the events leading up to it, the writing of it, or what it still means. Emily Sneff took a different approach and looked at how the Declaration was disseminated in the six months after its adoption by the Continental Congress.

 

What do you do when your entire life seems to have hit a wall, and you simply don’t have the will to go on? Marc Sims at Et Cetera takes that familiar experience and sets it in the context of Christianity.

 

More Good Reads

 

Faith

 

A Murderer Like Me – Missy Roepnack.

 

“Rise Up, O Men of God,” Hymn by William Pearson Merrill – Anthony Esolen at Word & Wong.

 

You Are Not Your Trials – Michael Kelley at Forward Progress.

 

America 250

 

Washington Resigns His Commission and Foreign Threats to the Republic – Keli Holt at Just Enough History.

 

Benjamin Rush – The Revolution’s Indispensable Doctor – Joseph Loconte at Acton Institute.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Samuel Johnson: “A Writer for Us All” – Henry Oliver at The Priory.

 

Belloc’s “Belinda” – Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

British Stuff

 

Where have all the vicars gone? – A.N. Wilson.

 

In Search of Roman London – Spitalfields Life.

 

American Stuff

 

American Malls Were Once Packed – So What Killed Them? – Secret State Files (video).

 

Art

 

Art imitating life: Artist self-portraits in the SLAM collection – Emily Wasserman at St. Louis Art Museum.

 

Life and Culture

 

The Making of Roger Scruton – Dan Hitchens at First Things Magazine.

 

The death of biblical literacy – Gwion Wyn Jones at The Spectator.

 

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Artificial Intelligence – Teddy Macker at Front Porch Republic.

 

Poetry

 

“At Melville’s Tomb,” poem by Hart Crane – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Inside the once-hidden workshop of ‘The Muppets’ creator Jim Henson – Associated Press

 Painting: Man with a Book, oil on canvas by Ferdinand Bol (1616-1680), The Leiden Collection.