Tag: National Review

Brown’s yearbook photo, circa 1920?

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It is intriguing, and often maddening, to research an author or historical figure and discover that there’s very little material to be found. With today’s newspaper and genealogical databases, such lack of information is itself suspicious. Perhaps the person just didn’t want to be found, or spent his life trying to keep his name out of the newspapers. And there’s always the possibility that for practical or professional reasons our subject wrote mostly under pseudonyms, such as “Lewis Carroll” or “Ulick Varange.” (more…)

From left, lawyers George E. C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall, and James M. Nabrit, Jr. at the Supreme Court following the Brown v. Board of Education ruling on May 17, 1954.

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Jesse Merriam
How We Got Our Antiracist Constitution: Canonizing Brown v. Board of Education in Courts and Minds
Claremont Provocations Monograph Series, 2023

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion . . .” — First Amendment of the United States Constitution, 1791

“Equal opportunity is the bedrock of American democracy, and our diversity is one of our country’s greatest strengths… It is therefore the policy of my Administration that the Federal Government should pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality. (more…)

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The following is a commemoration for Willis A. Carto, who was born 97 years ago today.

For me, one of the great takeaways from the Willis Allison Carto Online Presidential Library is watching the conservative mainstream drift off into the distance while Mr. Carto basically stayed in the same place. Beginning in the mid-1950s and rolling through later correspondence is like standing in the middle of “Pangea” — the theoretical original single continent that all of Earth’s present continents were once part of — and watching plate tectonics gradually pull the various pieces away from the center. (more…)

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The following is a commemoration for Willis A. Carto, who was born 96 years ago today.

About a year ago I stumbled across the online Willis A. Carto correspondence archive. It’s a source of never-ending delight. (more…)

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Steven F. Hayward
M. Stanton Evans: Conservative Wit, Apostle of Freedom
New York: Encounter Books, 2022

Is it possible to be a real old-school conservative or Man of the Right, and not — sooner or later — cut corners, betray your principles, sell out? Or — as we liked to put it seven or eight years ago — cuck?

This question was in the forefront of my mind as I dipped into this richly entertaining new biography of M. Stanton Evans by Steven Hayward. Surely, I thought, Stan Evans is going to disappoint us sooner or later. (more…)

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Nearly two years ago, your humble writer noted that Woodrow Wilson is one of the most hated presidents of all time. Older readers may recall a time when liberals loved the 28th President. They saw him as a progressive visionary who spread democratic values across the globe and made America better. Now, they just see him as another white supremacist who should be denied all public honors. (more…)

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“Political Catholicism” can evoke a lot of things. Some on the Right may think of the Habsburgs, or some revanchist regime restoring throne and altar. Liberals may think it’s a hidden code for fascism, based on vague memories that the Pope supported the Nazis . . . or something like that. (more…)

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Kevin D. Williamson
Big White Ghetto: Dead Broke, Stone-Cold Stupid, and High on Rage in the Dank Woolly Wilds of the “Real America”
Washington, DC: Regnery, 2020

Kevin D. Williamson is a guy who tries to look tough but in reality seems to be quite soft and fat. (more…)

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Kevin D. Williamson
Big White Ghetto: Dead Broke, Stone-Cold Stupid, and High on Rage in the Dank Woolly Wilds of the “Real America”
Washington, DC: Regnery, 2020

I suppose the author and publisher meant the title Big White Ghetto (etc.) to be eye-catching and amusing, (more…)

Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial overlooking Gloucester Harbor, Gloucester, Massachusetts (Bronze, 1925)

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The defining characteristic of WASPs is that they are much less ethnocentric than other peoples; indeed for all practical purposes Anglo-Saxon Protestants appear to be all but completely bereft of in-group solidarity. They are therefore open to exploitation by free-riders from other, more ethnocentric, groups. [1]

There is a woeful lack of ethnic consciousness and cohesion among Anglo-Saxons worldwide. (more…)

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Paul Gottfried, editor
The Vanishing Tradition: Perspectives on American Conservatism
DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2020

The Vanishing Tradition is an anthology edited by Paul Gottfried, and owing to its structure, a proper review is not really possible. Rather, I will individually summarize and comment on each contribution to the anthology. (more…)

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Conservatives and others on the ostensible Right have been on the retreat for a long time now. This becomes clear in the ways in which conservative elites in the media speak around critical issues rather than frankly about them. (more…)