From the Editor's Desk
Correspondence
Essays
Godlike, Godly Tolstoy
Each unhappy genius is unhappy in his own way.
Unmanned Combat
Drones and the dangers of risk-free war.
Keeping Up Appearances
A soap opera with a British accent. That's the critical rap on Downton Abbey, the cross-Atlantic hit series which in January returned to PBS for its third season.
Book Reviews
The Same Old Deal
A review of The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era, by Michael Grunwald
The Invisible Handout
A review of Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States, by Michael Lind
Gay Rites
A review of From the Closet to the Altar: Courts, Backlash, and the Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage, by Michael J. Klarman
Of Experts and Angels
A review of Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration, and the Rule of Law, by Richard A. Epstein
A Neglected Statesman
A review of William Howard Taft: The Travails of a Progressive Conservative, by Jonathan Lurie
Silent Cal Speaks
A review of Calvin Coolidge Says, by Calvin Coolidge
Too Much Information
A review of The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, by Robert A. Caro
Blasphemer
A review of Joseph Anton: A Memoir, by Salman Rushdie
Wisdom of the Ages
A review of The Fortunes of Permanence: Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia, by Roger Kimball
Courtiers
A review of Barack Obama's Post-American Foreign Policy: The Limits of Engagement, by Robert Singh; Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power, David E. Sanger; Bending History: Barack Obama's Foreign Policy, by Martin S. Indyk, Kenneth G. Lieberthal, and Michael E. O'Hanlon; and The Obamians: The Struggle Inside the White House to Redefine American Power, by James Mann
The Price of Power
A review of Proconsuls: Delegated Political-Military Leadership from Rome to America Today, by Carnes Lord
A People’s Contest
A review of Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction, by Allen C. Guelzo and This Great Struggle: America's Civil War, by Steven E. Woodworth
Why I’m Still a Democrat
A review of Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and Now Threatens the American Republic, by Jay Cost
Enduring Empire
A review of The Romans and their World: A Short Introduction, by Brian Campbell; Rome: An Empire's Story, by Greg Woolf; and Ancient Rome: From Romulus to Justinian, by Thomas R. Martin
Conscience Unbound
A review of The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society, by Brad S. Gregory
The Buddy of Christ
A review of The Juvenilization of American Christianity, by Thomas E. Bergler
Anguished Patriot
A review of The Democratic Soul: A Wilson Carey McWilliams Reader, by Wilson Carey McWilliams, edited by Patrick J. Deneen and Susan J. McWilliams; and Redeeming Democracy in America, by Wilson Carey McWilliams, edited by Patrick J. Deneen and Susan J. McWilliam
Bribesville
A review of Good Italy, Bad Italy: Why Italy Must Conquer Its Demons to Face the Future, by Bill Emmott
Taking Law Seriously
A review of Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts, by Antonin Scalia and Bryan A. Garner
A Bully’s Pulpit
We modern Americans are as much the heirs of Roosevelt and Progressivism as we are of the founders and the Constitution.
Shadow Play
The Hollywood Dialectic
Lincoln and Django Unchained represent what passes for artistic sensibility in today’s Hollywood.
Psalm XXIII
Newly Revised, Rearranged, Expanded, and Corrected According to Modern Principles