The best thing about Harry G. Frankfurt’s On Inequality is the paper it’s printed on
Ten years ago, a philosophy professor at Princeton wrote a book with a provocative, slightly indecent title. It was a…
Saying nothing, very well
In June 2009, the good people of South Carolina lost Mark Sanford, their governor. Per his instructions, his staff told…
Public man, lover, connoisseur
To the 21st-century right, especially in the United States, John Maynard Keynes has become a much-hated figure whose name is…
Staring into the abyss
The first interaction between two men recorded in the Bible involves a murder. In the earliest classic of English literature,…
The seeds of Wisdom
The Lawrence books are piling up, aren’t they? I don’t mean the author of The Rainbow, though as I write…
Keep the Booker British
Americans don’t need the cachet of our most prestigious literary prize – but we do, says Matthew Walther
Talking tough
Last year a Washington-based journalist called Mark Leibovich wrote This Town, a book whose thesis was, roughly, that Washington-based journalists…
The enlightened one
‘Arabist’ is fast becoming an archaism. Perhaps it is already one. These days the word conjures up enchanting visions of…
Nasty, brutish — and much too long
George Kennan, the career diplomat and historian best known for his sensible suggestion that the United States try to resist…
Homage to Elizabeth the first
‘She wrote fiction?’ Even today, with the admirable ladies at Virago nearly finished reissuing her dozen novels, Elizabeth Taylor remains…
