A Review of The Last Shah: America, Iran, and the Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty
The Shah exercised power as a true autocrat, and Iran came to have two poles: sycophancy and plotting against him.
Book Reviews
Fresh commentary on some of the most important books in law, politics, and culture.
A Review of Esther in America
Americans from diverse backgrounds and across the generations have found that the story of Esther speaks to their moment.
A Review of Boundaries of Eden
Glenn Arbery’s Boundaries of Eden extends the tradition of the Southern novel without allowing his historical fiction to sacrifice real history.
A Review of Cold Warriors: Writers Who Waged the Literary Cold War
It is easy to forget that the Cold War was a time when government strategy involved novels, poetry, and literary criticism—and writers mattered.
Past Reviews
A Review of Reflection and Choice
If America’s Constitution needs its own “Bible,” you could do much worse than The Federalist. But Gary Gregg and Aaron Coleman do us one better.
A Review of Fears of a Setting Sun
America has gone through times so difficult that even its Founders were despondent, but it emerged still standing. Should we take heart?
A Review of Kristin Lavransdatter
Sigrid Undset's classic novel shows us now what we want to see but what we’ve been neglecting, the consequences of our autonomous ways.
A Review of Bills of Rights Before the Bill of Rights
The early state declarations of rights should not be read and studied merely as “dress rehearsals” for the national Bill of Rights.
A Review of Trust
Moderates like Buttigieg are forced to walk the line today, endlessly striving to hit the sweet spot between “inflammatory” and “milquetoast.”
A Review of They Knew They Were Pilgrims
The Pilgrims were not 21st century liberal democrats, but they embraced institutions and practices that helped advance a commitment to republicanism.
A Review of France Before 1789
A study of the French Revolution cannot possibly succeed if it does not address the role of ideas in that extraordinary, cataclysmic event.
A Review of History Has Begun: The Birth of a New America
Is America finally making its own way in a world becoming less liberal and in which the West’s saliency as a model for everyone continues to decline?
A Review of The World of Plymouth Plantation
The World of Plymouth Plantation seeks to break away from the symbolic value of Plymouth, but in doing so overlooks the human actions and goals.
A Review of First Principles
Too often we would rather use the past to confirm what we believe to be right and good than to do the work of personal and national self-understanding.
A Review of Religion in the Public Square
Is it possible that Sheen and King succeeded because they carefully eschewed partisan politics, whereas Falwell failed because he embraced it?
A Review of The Virginia Dynasty
It may be counted among our fledgling nation’s good fortune that a small pocket of Virginia somehow cultivated an enormous concentration of talent.
A Review of Hitler and Stalin
Parallel studies of Hitler and Stalin are worthwhile not because their similarities, but because of their profound differences.
A Review of Shakespeare and the Political Way
Shakespeare’s plays, including his portraits of the tyrannical soul, remind us that ultimately there is no substitute for studying human nature.