Reading room
Reviews, interviews, and cultural criticism engaging questions of beauty, liberty, philosophy, public life, and the foundations of Western society.
The federal government will spend $7 trillion in 2025. That’s roughly $19 billion per day, or around $50 million in the time it takes to read this article. On the other side of the ledger, the government will collect $5.2 trillion in taxes. Careful readers will already see the problem. That $5.2 trillion dribbles …
September 21 is Deficit Day for 2025, something we have been calculating and talking about for some years now. What is it? From this point forward, for the rest of the year, the United States government will be spending money it does not have.
Few people seem interested in learning. Many prefer cheering. Americans in 2025 are, in important respects, less knowledgeable about the world and about themselves than Americans were in 1925. Or 1825.
At the heart of Tolkien’s tale lies the One Ring, an object of immense power that corrupts all who seek to wield it — even the noblest fall prey to its seduction. Tolkien reminds us that power, no matter how well-intentioned, must be handled with caution and humility or not at all.
On this episode of Words & Numbers, Antony Davies and I talk about the clear problems that have emerged in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder. When people are confident and comfortable in their public celebration of a young man’s death, something has gone horribly wrong. And if we don’t set things right, things will …
At Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning show on July 5th, rock royalty showed up to pay tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at his retirement gig. Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian said it best: “We’re not here to say goodbye, we’re here to say thank you.” But as it turns out, they were there to say goodbye. …
This interview originally appears on American Sephardi. Please visit their website here. The American Sephardi Federation’s Sephardi Ideas Monthly (SIM) by Dr. Aryeh Tepper is a continuing series of essays and interviews from the rich, multi-dimensional world of Sephardi thought and culture that is delivered to your inbox every month. Daniel Asia is an award-winning …
Juneteenth combines “June” and “Nineteenth,” commemorating June 19, 1865, when the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas, and General Gordon Granger announced to 250,000 enslaved men, women, and children that they were slaves no more.
We celebrate a number of holidays every year in the United States, and while each has its partisans, there aren’t many that get to the heart of who we are as a people. Indeed, few could. We manage to find the worst in each other in just about every aspect of public life, and we …
How is the tradition of Western classical music faring on our university campuses? Before answering this question, it is necessary to understand what has transpired with classical music in the wider culture, as the relationship between the two is so strong.
A safe space for the beautiful.