The leading literary critics of the day didn’t think much of The Lord of the Rings when it was first published in the 1950s. Enthusiastic fans got there long before the critics did. Fifty years after J.R.R. Tolkien’s death, the true extent of his literary legacy is only now becoming apparent, says Sebastian Milbank at The Critic Magazine. Nick Groom at Literary Hub wonders if LOTR is a work of modernism.
You’re not going to read this in many mainstream newspapers. Two years ago, the world was shocked by the reports of mass graves on the sites of former Indigenous schools in Canada, many of which were run by the Catholic Church. The pope apologized. The Canadian government apologized. Catholic churches were vandalized. And, asks Meghan Murphy at The Spectator, guess how many graves have actually been found?
If you a climate scientist, you better know exactly what you need to do if you want to get a paper published. Patrick Brown at The Free Press explains what he had to do.
The new edition of An Unexpected Journal is out, and it is devoted to all things King Arthur: poetry, prose, and scholarship. Included are articles and poems by Annie Nardone, Malcolm Guite, Seth Myers, Donald Williams, Josh Herring, and many others.
More Good Reads
Writing and Literature
Famous Amis: On the life & work of the late Martin Amis – Kyle Smith at New Criterion.
The Wisdom and Innocence of G.K. Chesterton – Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative.
That Viral “Most Books Sell <12 Copies” Claim – Lincoln Michel at Counter Craft.
Faith
Answering Children – Seth Lewis.
Measuring Religious Liberty Protection in the United States – Dr. Sarah Estelle at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics.
The House Seems Large Today – Tim Challies.
The Brothers Who Wrote a Sixth of the Psalms – Dan Crabtree at The Cripplegate.
History
The Forgotten End of the Second World War – Francis Pike at The Spectator.
Life and Culture
Behind the AI boom, an army of overseas workers in ‘digital sweatshops’ – Rebecca Tan and Regine Cabato at Washington Post.
This land is whose land? – Avi Woolf at Washington Examiner.
Creative Destruction: Reviewing Neil Howe’s The Fourth Turning is Here – N.S. Lyons at The Upheaval.
British Stuff
Downfall of the Brexit doomers – Derrick Berthelsen at The Critic Magazine.
Concern trolling the clergy – Ian Paul at The Critic Magazine.
News Media
5 Reasons Local Journalism is Important – Alison Hill at Writer’s Digest.
Why the Free Press Exists, in Three Stories – Bari Weiss at The Free Press.
Art
The Square Halo Gallery: A Place to Encounter Christian Art in the Midst of the City – Ned Bustard at The Rabbit Room.
Poetry
All Souls – Saskia Hamilton at Literary Hub.
Hymn to the Night – poem by Michel Taormina at Society of Classical Poets.
Ease – Kathleen at The Course of Our Seasons.
Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” – Allie Sherlock and an Italian guy
Painting: St. Jerome Reading in the Desert, oil on canvas by Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516), National Gallery, London.
