How is the heart won? Laughter certainly loosens the bars; cleverness occupies the mind, leaves the creature unprotected. After that the heart is easily cleaved in two. Troy... Read More

The end David Marquand speaks of here is not a doomsday scenario in which the rising tide that is China and India washes away Europe and America. Rather, it is about the end of... Read More

Philosophers and theologians are well acquainted with navigating the murky waters of good and evil, and with trying to create definition around what’s “right” and... Read More

George Washington is quoted in "Cultivating Conscience" as saying, “Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.” This duality in human nature, and the connection... Read More

Much has been and will be written on Barack Obama the politician, but until now, little has appeared on Obama the intellectual. This lucid investigation of the president’s... Read More

With wit, wisdom, and occasional hilarity, Robert Kurzban offers explanations for why we do the things we do, such as morally condemning the sale of human organs and locking the... Read More

“During recent years there has been a growing interest in devising some plan for checking or limiting the tide of immigration whose waves sweep in upon the United States... Read More

Paul Gauguin is perhaps best known the way he wanted to be known. A driven and pioneering artist, he was also adept at creating a personal mythology that explained his life and... Read More

Edward Hopper started his well-known painting Nighthawks with a sketch. Seated at a restaurant counter are a man and woman, looking at each other, about to speak. When he... Read More

Economically, the Middle East has lagged behind the West for centuries, and, as author Timur Kuran contends, that may be less attributable to the ravages of colonialism or... Read More

"The Whites of Their Eyes" is a fascinating attempt to raise the level of US public policy debate. It is also a critique of the uses of history in politics and a brief,... Read More

“What we call History, considered as giving a record of notable events, or transactions, under names and dates,” said the American pastor, Horace Bushnell, “I conceive to... Read More