Saturday Good Reads - Sept. 5, 2026

Since his death on Monday, people have been writing about Wendell Berry (1934-2026). Including me at Tweetspeak Poetry. Below are quite a few links – memories, remembrances, assessments. I’m reminded of Mark Twain’s words, “Let us endeavor so to live so that when we come to die, even the undertaker will be sorry.” Wendell Berry was loved, and he left a deep mark. 

In late August, I wrote about how The Norton Anthology of English Literature shaped my understanding of poetry. It turns out I wasn’t the only one. Mark Bauerlein at Portico discusses his own Norton experience. 

 

The author of the blog Spitalfields Life took a walk along the Ridgeway, considered to be the oldest road in Britain. He wrote about the experience, and he took pictures, too. 

 

More Good Reads

 

Wendell Berry

 

Stewarding Land and Language – Jake Meador at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Love’s Shadowless Light – Jeffrey Bilbro at Front Porch Republic.

 

In Memory: Wendell Berry – Gracy Olmstead at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Wendell Berry’s Eternal Story – Paul Kingsnorth at First Things Magazine.

 

The Once and Future Wisdom of Wendell Berry – Rod Dreher at The Free Press.

 

Wendell Berry, writer and prophet, was extolled by many as a modern-day prophet – Yonat Shimron and Adelle Banks at Religio News Service.

 

Wendell Berry’s vision of a sacred world – Norman Wirzba at The Christian Century.

 

Why Wendell Berry mattered – Nate Hanrahan at The Spectator.

 

The Real Ideal – Paul Pastor at Front Porch Republic.

 

Remembering Wendell Berry – Gracy Olmstead at Granola.

 

A Voice for My Generation – Samuel Heard at Front Porch Republic.

 

Writing and Literature

 

We Still Need Fairy Tales – Ashley Hales at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Life and Culture

 

When Everything Is Forgotten – Joseph Orso at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Art

 

Riding the Waves of Stone Sea, St. Louis Art Museum’s Largest artwork – Emily Wasserman at St. Louis Art Museum blog. 

 

Movies

 

20 Years Later, ‘Amazing Grace’ Producer Says Wilberforce’s Story Still Resonates – Michael Foust at Crosswalk.

 

Poetry

 

“Last Supper,” poem by Elinor Wylie – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Derrick Porter, Hoxton Poet – Spitalfields Life.

 

Faith

 

How to Pray When You Fel Like You Pray the Same Thing Every Day – Courtney Reissig at Crossway.

 

Known by Heaven – Josh Groban and Lauren Daigle

 Photograph: Wendell Berry Reading by Ben Aguilar via The Berry Center.

Some Wednesday Readings - Sept. 2, 2026

Wendell Berry’s Affections – Gary Houchens at The Imaginative Conservative. 

Wendell Berry (1934-2026) – Jeffrey Bilbro at Front Porch Republic.

 

The Witness of Wendell Berry – C. Christopher Smith at Cultivating Communities.

 

The Swap Not Heard ‘Round the World: Ordering the Declaration’s Grievances – Rpbert Parkinson at The Journal of the American Revolution.

 

The Highdays & Holidays of Old London – Spitalfields Life.

 

Your Guide to Dolly Parton’s Crime Movies – Olivia Rutigliano at CrimeReads. 

 

Photograph: Wendell Berry (1934-2026).

Some Wednesday Readings

The Nobody Inn and Radical and Dissenting Newington Green – A London Inheritance. 

Warch Pakistan Closely: The Other Front in the Iran Crisis – John Spencer at Urban Warfare. 

 

Why Movies Suck – Andrew Klavan at The New Jerusalem.

 

In Praise of Poetry and Form – Steven Knepper at Kirk Center.

 

British Culture Under Attack – By Its Curators – Joanna Williams at City Journal.

 

Saint Patrick’s Breastplate – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

Splendour of Fire, Speed of Lightning: Learning from St. Patrick – Paul Kingsnorth at The Abbey of Misrule.

 

“We had a great time here on St. Patrick’s Day” – Bert Dunkerly at Emerging Civil War.

 

St. Patrick – a sonnet by Malcolm Guite.

 

A Booster Dose of COVID White Pills – Yuri Bezmenov at How to Subvert Subversion.

 

Photograph: Statue of St. Patrick by Rashmi via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Saturday Good Reads - Sept. 27, 2025

Did he or didn’t he? American spy Nathan Hale was hanged by the British. Every school child of my and previous generations learned that his final words were,” I regret I have but one life to give for my country” But did he really say that? Smithsonian Magazine investigates. 

How did a rather obscure dialect become a, perhaps the, global language? Joel Miller reviews a new book by Laura Spinney, Proto: How One Language Went Global. And he says we should be thankful our ancestors murdered their mother tongue. Without having read the book, I would answer the question by saying “first, the British Empire” and second, “the spread of American culture and power after World War II.” But that’s me.

 

One of the most beautifully filmed movies I’ve ever seen is 1992’s “A River Runs Through It,” directed by Robert Redford and based on the novel by Norman Maclean. Samuel Rocha at Notre Dame’s Church Life Journal considers the movie and especially the “words beneath the rocks.” 

 

America, or its elites, discovered the First Amendment’s freedom of speech this past week, rushing to defend Jimmy Kimmel and his remarks on the Charlie Kirk murder on constitutional grounds. We all have to wonder where they were when Google, Facebook, and Twitter were censoring conservative voices at the request of the Biden administration (“That was different! That was disinformation!”). Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson was silenced for questioning the COVID-19 vaccine, as Matt Taibbi at Racket News pointed out this week. 

 

By the way, freedom of speech essentially stops at the workplace door, as determined in numerous court cases. Employers have a wide latitude when it comes to employee behavior and speech. We may have freedom of speech in America, but in the workplace, we do not have freedom from the consequences of our speech. Discretion is advised.

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

A Peculiar Beginning to the Canadian Campaign: Benedict Arnold and the Great Awakening at Newburyport, Sept. 20, 1775 – Rob Orrison at Emerging Revolutionary War Era. 

 

1778 Naval Strategy: French Actors and British Reactors – Bob Ruppert at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

Silent Slaughter: The Revolutionary War’s Most Brutal Hour – Jason Clark at This is the Day.

 

Enemies to Their Country: The Marblehead Addressers and Consensus in the American Revolution by Nicholas Gentile– review by Timothy Symington at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

Sports

 

Carlos Alcaraz as a White Pill Experience – Yuro Bezmenov at How to Subvert Subversion.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Writing is for Humans – Kelsey Peterson at Front Porch Republic.

 

Talking Tolkien Pt. 1: Words for Wounds – Andrew Roycroft at New Grub Street.

 

A lack of national identity has killed off the Great American Novel – Michael Gibson at The Spectator.

 

Why I Will Never Use AI for Writing – Seth Lewis.

 

Life and Culture

 

Children need more reading time, education needs less politics – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.

 

Midwest Roots, American Aspirations: Charlie Kirk’s Legacy – Jeffrey Bilbro at Front Porch Republic.

 

The Porcelain Bull in Our Little China Shop – Chris Martin at FYI.

 

In the Midst of the Story – Spencer Klavan at The New Jerusalem. 

 

Radical Normie Terrorism – Christopher Rufo.

 

Of Branson and Belonging – Ian Hearn at Front Porch Republic.

 

When Minors View Violence Online – Emily Harrison at Front Porch Republic.

 

News Media

 

Iryna Zarutska and Charle Kirk have exposed the media’s depravity – Roger Kimball at The Spectator.

 

Poetry

 

An introduction to T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets – Rabbit Room Poetry.

 

“Laughter,” poem by G.K. Chesterton – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

“The Gates of Damascus (extract),” poem by James Elroy Flecker – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Faith

 

Permission to Grieve – Megan Willome.

 

The Soul of Man Never Dies – Tony Rice & Ricky Skaggs

Painting: Woman Reading, oil on canvas (1907) by Lucie Cousturier (1876-1925), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Saturday Good Reads - Sept. 20, 2025

My education (public schools and public university) did teach me about the American Revolution, of course, but what I remember most about the battles are Lexington and Concord, the occupation of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia by the British, Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, the crossing of the Delaware, and Yorktown. Yet the Revolution was also fought in colonies like Georgia and South Carolina, which experienced some of the most vicious military battles. In the pine woods near Camden, South Carolina, archaeologists are working on what they call the “ultimate cold case” – the remains of soldiers who fell in battle in 1780. 

Sept. 17 was Constitution Day, generally ignored by the news media (“not the narrative”) but noted by government agencies, quite a few universities, and other sources like bloggers. At The Imaginative Conservative, a speech memorializing the Constitution was posted. It was given by John Quincy Adams in 1839, on the occasion of the 50^thanniversary of the inauguration of George Washington as out first president. 

 

Speaking of the Constitution, a hearing in the U.S. Senate provided an opportunity to discuss the origin of our “unalienable rights.” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) maintained our rights come from government, contrary to what the Declaration of Independence says. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) corrected him. The New Criterion has a brief editorial about what the foundation of our rights and government truly is.

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

The Best 250^th Logos – Bert Dunkerly at Emerging Revolutionary War Era. 

 

General John Twiggs and the American Revolution – Robert Scott Davis at Journal of the American Revolution. 

 

John Adams: Anatomizing Tyranny – Danielle Allen at The Coolidge Review.

 

Movies

 

Biblical Breakthrough: “The Robe” Launches the Widescreen Era of Movies – Jason Clark at This Is the Day.

 

The Sound of Music’s 60^th anniversary: a masterpiece that celebrates civilization – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.

 

Life and Culture

 

Progressive Cries of ‘Cancel Culture’ Are Overblown – Matthew Continetti at The Free Press.

 

Charlie Kirk Did It All the Right Way – Christopher Rufo.

 

Researchers warn of rising ‘assassination culture’ after murders of Charlie Kirk, Brian Thompson – Michael Ruiz at Fox News.

 

What Happens If No One Reads? – Spencer Klavan at Rejoice Evermore.

 

Faith

 

One week later: Thoughtful Reponses to Charlie Kirk’s Death – Tim Challies.

 

A Christian Response to the Murder of Charlie Kirk – Robb Brunansky at The Cripplegate.

 

American Stuff

 

Gutzon Borglum: Part Deux – Brian Kowell at Emerging Civil War.

 

Poetry

 

“Elegy,” poem by Edith Wharton – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

The Joy of Poetry by Megan Willome – review by Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper.

 

British Stuff

 

Unmerrie England – editorial by The New Criterion.

 

Some of Buster Keaton’s most amazing stunts

Painting: Young Man at the Window in His Study Reading, oil on canvas circa 1653 by Willem Drost (1630-1685). 

The Inspirations That Led to "Brookhaven"

Brookhaven has made its historical novel debut. Publication happened faster than I anticipated; I thought maybe by sometime in late January. It was a surprise to receive a message from the publisher last Thursday with the link to Amazon Kindle, followed by the paperback on Friday. 

Like all stories, Brookhaven has its seeds, some going back more than 60 years. Some of those seeds are movies.

 

The children in our family are spread widely apart; my older brother is eight years older, and my younger brother is 10 years younger. For a decade, I was the little kid in the family. And because my father wasn’t a fan of movies, and my mother was a Hollywood director’s dream of a fan, I became my mother’s movie partner. We saw the Disney movies, of course, but we also saw a lot of others, including some that weren’t exactly the best viewing for a child.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Some Monday Readings

 

Saints Alive in Books and Memory – A.C.S. Bird at Story Warren.

 

Italo Calvino and Magic Books – Barb Drummond, Curious Historian. 

 

What happened to relics of Syria’s Jewish history? Assad’s collapse suprs efforts to assess damage – Shira Li Bartov/JTA at The Jerusalem Post. 

 

What I See: Go on Shepherd & Lamb – Sam Kee at The Color of Dust.

 

Pause – poem by Kelly Belmonte at Kelly’s Scribbles.

Saturday Good Reads - Dec. 17, 2022

Bari Weiss, a liberal (old-school) reporter who left The New York Times because of its lurch leftward and wokeward, was one of several journalists invited by Elon Musk to examine the Twitter email files. She tells the story of how the journalists came together and what they found. Charles Lipson at The Spectator looks at how damning the Twitter files are to the government. 

Thirty years ago, William Bennett published The Book of Virtues, a collection of writings from several millennia on what has (historically, anyway) guided proper behavior. Robert Pandiscio at City Journal looks at the book, discovering that times change but principles endure.

 

One of the most moving things I read this week was what initially sounded like a trite reference to the season, that old letter to Santa Claus. But Doug Spurling tells quite a different story. 

 

More Good Reads

 

Life and Culture

 

Ron DeSantis, Conservationist – James Meigs at CityJournal.

 

Deep Down Things in a Time of Panic – Ian Marcus Corbin at The Hedgehog Review.

 

God in the Age of Iron – Paul Kingsnorth at The Abbey of Misrule.

 

Why is Van Gogh under Attack? – Martin Bailey at The Art Newspaper.

 

Ukraine

 

How the West misunderstood Russia’s military capabilities – Rodric Braithwaite at The Spectator. 

 

“These People Aren’t Going Anywhere”: A heartening reminder, from Chicago’s Ukrainian Village – David Murray at Writing Boots.

 

American Stuff

 

Fredericksburg by Night – Sarah Kay Bierle at Emerging Civil War.

 

Faith

 

A Time to Say Goodbye: A Father’s Gratitude as Children Leave Home – Jon Bloom at Desiring God.

 

Christianity Against the Civilizational State(s) – Jake Meador at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

A Curious Clue about the Origins of the New Testament Canon – Michael Kruger at Canon Fodder.

 

Putting the Mess in Christmess – Kyle Borg at Gentle Reformation.

 

The Inklings and the Outbreak of World War II – Bradley Birzer at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Writing in Cursive – Brian Miller at A South Roane Agrarian.

 

The Seven Pillars of Western Civilization – Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

St. Nicholas and the Advent of Children’s Literature – LuElla D’Amico at Church Life Journal.

 

News Media

 

The 7 Best Articles I Read in 2022 – Chris Martin at Terms of Service.

 

AI image generation tech can now create life-wrecking deepfakes with ease – Benj Edwards at Ars Technica.

 

Poetry

 

Yet – a poem on the Season of Depression – James Tweedie at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Movies

 

The Wild, Wonderful, and Poetic World of Ralphie Parker – Matt Mitchell at Literary Hub.

 

Holy Ghost Power – The Hillbilly Thomists

 Painting: Unknown woman (formerly known as Charlotte Bronte), oil on canvas by an unknown artist, circa 1850.)

Saturday Good Reads - July 9, 2022

Pano Kanelos was the president of St. John’s University in Baltimore. He’s also a Shakespeare scholar. Distraught at what was happening at his own university as well as so many others in America, he stepped down – and moved to Texas, where he’s building the University of Austin, “dedicated to the fearless pursuit of truth.” There was a time when many universities were like that. 

C.R. Wiley published a book recently, In the House of Tom Bombadil, about one of the most mysterious characters in all of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works – Tom Bombadil. Who is he, and why did Tolkien include him? Jeremy Johnston at Front Porch Republic has a review, and wonder if there’s one answer to rule them all.

 

My favorite read of this week is by Sylvia Schroder, who blogs at When the House is Quiet. She nad her husband just celebrated a “major anniversary,” and she asks (and answers) the question, “Who Knew When We Said ‘I Do’?”

 

More Good Reads

 

Life and Culture

 

Saving John Silber – Howard Husock at National Affairs.

 

You Can't Possibly Believe That. Or can you? – Samuel D. James at Digital Liturgies.

 

Faith

 

Herbert and Ferrar: The Quiet Resistance – Dwight Longenecker at The Imaginative Conservative. 

 

Poetry

 

St. Thomas the Apostle – Malcolm Guite.

 

Napping with Dementia – Joseph Mussomeli at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Noticing – Joe Kenton at Poetry Joy.

 

De and No – Sherry Early at Semicolon Blog.

 

News Media

 

Angry about Roe, many journalists focus on crisis pregnancy centers as villains behind it all – Julia Duin at Get Religion.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Some Strange Eruption: Watching ‘Station Eleven’ and Teaching ‘Hamlet’ to the Class of 2022 – Andrew Simmons at The Millions.

 

The Pulpy, Rollicking, Resonant Early Sci-Fi of John Wyndham – Lincoln Michel at Literary Hub.

 

Shop Talk: James Kestrel on Writing Novels During Lunch in Quiet Honolulu Bars – Eli Cranor at CrimeReads.

 

Movies

 

Considering 'Casablanca:' Whatever Happened to Rick? –John Rossi at Real Clear History.

 

Ukraine

 

Beyond the fog of war: books to help us understand the invasion of the Ukraine – Oliver Bullough at The Guardian.

 

American Stuff

 

A Healthy Respect for Limits: Recovering the American Founding – Mark Malvasi and The Imaginative Conservative. 

 

Abraham Lincoln Tribute – The Piano Guys

 Painting: The Reader, oil on canvas (ca. 1665) by Eglon van der Neer (1635-1793).

"The Kidnap Murder Case" by S.S. Van Dine

Of the 12 Philo Vance mysteries by S.S. Van Dine, only two weren’t made into movies. Several actors played the detective in the various films, including William Powell (also known for The Thin Man movies with Myrna Loy), Basil Rathbone, Paul Lukas, Warren William, Edmund Lowe, and Grant Richards. Powell played in four, the most of any in the group. 

The novels were suited for adaptation to the big screen. They often read like expanded movie scripts. Settings were almost all interiors, making them easy to recreate in studio stages. Of the 10 adaptations, only one – “The Scarab Murder Case” – hasn’t survived. In the early 1930s, Warner Brothers hired Van Dine to write a series of scenarios for 12, two-reel films, each about 20 minutes. Released in 1931 and 1932, they featured Dr. Crabtree and Inspector Carr as investigating detectives. The films have all survived, but the scenarios written by Van Dine have not.

The Kidnap Murder Case is one of the two Philo Vance stories not filmed (the other is The Winter Murder Case, Van Dine’s last work). First published in 1936, it is built upon the kidnapping cases that were, unfortunately, common and sensationalized in the 1920s and 1930s (the Lindbergh baby kidnapping being the most famous). 

Kaspar Keating is something of a playboy and gambler, and he’s apparently kidnapped from his home in Manhattan. But the kidnapping features some odd clues, as Philo Vance soon ferrets out. His pajamas and toothbrush are also missing. A ladder is found leaning against the second story window of Keating’s bedroom, but little weight has been placed on it, judging by the ground indentations. Keating’s wife Madelaine heard someone moving around the room and called out, but there had been no answer. And Keating was desperate to raise money for a gambling debt.

The household is filled with odd characters as well. Madelaine’s mother and brother live on the third floor, and neither liked the missing Keating. The butler seems shifty; with a name like “Weem,” he’s something straight out of Dickens. Keating’s brother Kenyon lives not far away, and he controls the family purse strings. He’s also in love with his brother’s wife. A plan to catch the kidnappers is foiled with Madelaine’s mother attempts to retrieve the money in Central Park, and then Madelaine herself is kidnapped.

S.S. Van Dine in his later years

The story ranges far afield from the Keating brownstone, and that may be one reason why it didn’t lend itself as readily to a film adaptation. But it has all the classic Philo Vance attributes – the New York City setting, a psychological approach to finding the criminal, Vance confounding and surpassing the investigating policemen, and the detective’s rather famous nonchalance and projection of boredom. 

Willard Huntington Wright (1888-1939) was an art critic who had been literary editor of the Los Angeles Times, an editor of The Smart Set, a novelist, an art historian, and art exhibition organizer. A friend of H.L. Mencken and an admirer of the novels of Theodore Dreiser, Wright hated romance and detective fiction with a passion, until he needed money. In 1926, he published the first Philo Vance story, The Benson Murder Case, with Scribners. And he used the pen name “S.S. Van Dine.” 

The Kidnap Murder Case is one of the few in which the villain becomes apparent sooner than Van Dine likely intended. But it is a fascinating story nonetheless, including scenes of gun violence and one in which Philo Vance and the narrator Van come very close to being killed.

Related:

The Benson Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine.

The Canary Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine.

The Greene Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine.

The Bishop Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine.

The Scarab Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine.

The Kennel Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine.

The Dragon Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine.

The Casino Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine. 

The Garden Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine.

Top photograph: S.S. Van Dine and William Powell on the set of one of the early Philo Vance films.