4,453 words
Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)
It is during and after the First World War that reinforced concrete was incorporated into political programs as a “progressive” building material. The Futurist Antonio Sant’Elia inspired an entire generation of so-called “brutalists”: Le Corbusier, Buckminster Fuller, and members of the movement called De Stijl. Jappe cites Futurist proponents of concrete cities: (more…)
4,509 words
Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 here)
Anselm Jappe
Béton: Arme de construction massive du capitalisme
Paris: Éditions L’échappée, 2020
Ask any thinking people what they consider to be the most dramatic and long-lasting changes in the world over the last hundred years, and a wide variety of responses may be expected, ranging from demographic shifts to the atomic bomb, (more…)
5,133 words
Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)
Nero was only 16 when he became Emperor. His coming to power had nevertheless been enabled by several murders and/or suspiciously timely deaths. Claudius may or may not have died accidentally, but Narcissus, who favored Britannicus and the Senator Silanus, were poisoned almost certainly on the orders of Nero’s mother. (more…)
4,287 words
Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 here)
Alexander Bätz
Nero: Wahnsinn und Wirklichkeit
Hamburg: Rowohlt Buchverlag, 2023
Among those able to name any Roman emperors, Nero is likely to be on their list. Although he was Roman Emperor for only 14 years, from 54 to 68 AD, he is widely viewed as one of the most famous or infamous of all of them, strongly associated with the persecution of the Christians and the murder of both his mother and wife, and he is widely seen as the embodiment of tyranny. (more…)
Xenophon in front of the Austrian parliament.
Xenophon in front of the Austrian parliament.
5,446 words
Wolfgang Will
Der Zug der 10 000: Die unglaubliche Geschichte eines antiken Söldnerheeres
Munich: C. H. Beck, 2022
314 pages
The merit of Der Zug der 10 000 (The March of the 10,000: The Incredible Story of an Ancient Mercenary Army) lies in the story itself, not in the wooden and pedestrian manner in which it is retold by Wolfgang Will. The march of the 10,000 was a remarkable event in ancient history. (more…)
6,017 words
Stefano Boni
Homo confort: Le prix à payer d’une vie sans efforts ni contraintes
Paris: Les Éditions L’échappée, 2022
For several years I worked freelance for a company which specialized in controlling indemnity claims on behalf of automobile insurance companies. Like many others, the company published an annual in-house magazine which included cheesy personal interviews with managers and heads of departments. (more…)
5,371 words
Dietmar Friedhoff
Denken wir Afrika: Eine konservative Grundsatz-Strategie zur Selbstentwicklung unseres Nachbarkontinents
Bad Schussenried: Gerhard Hess Verlag, 2021
A canny financier in the British situation comedy series Only Fools and Horses proposes a new investment future: “Get your hands round this” he exclaims, then pauses dramatically and utters one word: “Africa.” (more…)
2.916 slov
English original here
Alain de Benoist
Contre le libéralisme: La Société n’est pas un Marché
Monaco: Éditions du Rocher, 2019
Název nejnovější knihy Alaina de Benoist Contre le libéralisme (Proti liberalismu) je polemický, zatímco podtitul La société n’est pas un marché (Společnost není trh) by klidně mohlo posloužit jako velmi případný slogan demonstrace. (more…)
Putin at the Victory Day parade in 2012, shortly after winning his third term as President.
Putin at the Victory Day parade in 2012, shortly after winning his third term as President.
4,606 words
Part 3 of 3 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here)
One might have expected that Western leaders were adequately forewarned that Putin’s ambition, priorities, and values were different from those of liberal globalists — that Christopher Hitchens better understood Russia’s new ruler when he dubbed him a “KGB weasel” than those who believed he would move effortlessly into the global scheme of a new world order, even should that mean weakening the identity and power of the Russian state. (more…)
Putin meeting with families of the victims of the Kursk submarine disaster in 2000.
Putin meeting with families of the victims of the Kursk submarine disaster in 2000.
4,319 words
Part 2 of 3 (Part 1 here, Part 3 here)
In the several chapters which deal with Russia’s transformation from a state-run to a mixed economy, Putin is described as frequently involved, but only indirectly: never the main mover and never in the spotlight. (more…)
5,842 words
Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)
Although the book is not polemical or sensationalistic, still less speculative (de Benoist is no Dan Brown), it is nevertheless provocative. There is provocation in the very title chosen: L’Homme qui n’avait pas de Père, the man who had no father. If there is originality in this book, it is in its insistence on the importance of closely examining Jesus’ family tree, of stressing its importance and weighing up the evidence of his parenthood and family relations. (more…)
6,102 words
Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 here)
Alain de Benoist
L’Homme qui n’avait pas de Père: Le Dossier Jésus
Paris: Krisis, 2021
964 pages
All translations of quotations from the book in this review are the author’s. Passages from the Bible are from the King James Version. (more…)
