History

The latest installment in the Martin Center’s “History of Higher Ed” series highlights Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1837 Harvard lecture, “The American Scholar.” In this distribution of functions the scholar is the delegated intellect. In the right state he is Man Thinking. In the degenerate state, when the victim of…

In “How to Stem the Tide of Socialism,” Amity Shlaes tells the story of an effort to educate the public about the dangers of socialism that paid big dividends in later years: It starts with an executive who worked at General Electric in the 1950s named Lemuel Boulware.

As Ronald Reagan often pointed out, the citizens of the Soviet Union were good at using humor to help them cope with the strain of life under socialism. With Bernie Sanders surging in the polls, and with “democratic” socialism surging on college campuses, it looks like we may soon be…

Patrick Riccards writes for the Washington Examiner about a disturbing deficit in historical knowledge among younger Americans. In our post-Parkland, current-Greta Thunberg world, many are quick to throw around the quote, “and a little child shall lead them.” Heading into presidential primary season, pundits are quick to talk…

Just before Christmas, Matt Ridley published a piece in the Spectator under the title, “We’ve just had the best decade in human history. Seriously.” It’s a good antidote to the usual gloom and doom. Here are some excerpts: Let nobody tell you that the second decade…

N.C. legislators head back to Raleigh this month. Becki Gray explains what’s likely to be on their agenda during the next edition of Carolina Journal Radio. Jon Guze shares his concerns about recent developments involving civil asset forfeiture and federal equitable sharing in North Carolina. Longtime Raleigh…

Richard Fernandez explains at PJMedia.com why the new year offers an excellent opportunity to consider the history of radical politics. There have been several times in modern history when political idealists have set out to remake the world. The French Revolution in 1792, for example, attempted to redefine…

Larry Alex Taunton offers American Spectator readers a list of his choices for history’s top 10 most influential books. 10. The Influence of Sea Power Upon History (1890), Alfred Thayer Mahan My first entry will surprise some readers. It is also the most recent work to be included on…