Ralph Moody’s “Little Britches”: Work and Play in the American West
Just as viruses and bad ideas spread between people, so manners, good living, and, best of all, good books can spread. Through […]
Bee Wilson’s “First Bite”: Rethinking How We Eat and the Breastfeeding World Tour
There are certain writers whose work, no matter the topic, I will read because their perspective is perennially interesting. Such is the […]
Amy Chua’s “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”: Is “Chinese Parenting” Really Better?
When J.D. Vance was announced as the GOP candidate for vice-president, I, like many people, was reminded of his mystifying memoir of […]
Teddy Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts…”
In a speech in Paris in 1910, Teddy Roosevelt said: “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points […]
Freedom in Full
Earlier this month, in honor of the anniversary of our nation’s founding, I wrote about the meaning of freedom at Crisis Magazine. […]
Valerie Shore’s “The Compleat Woman”: Marriage, Motherhood, and Career
Perhaps one of the best kinds of friends one can ask for in life is the friend who always has books to […]
A Short List of Summer Reads for Young and Old
Summer is upon us. For those of us in the swampy South, there is a ever-present damp haze blessedly punctuated by afternoon […]
Old Stories and “the Full Rapture of a Good Book”
Little Free Libraries offer an exciting array of unexpected finds. Sometimes they are a cause for concern, but sometimes the books found […]
Gerard Nolst Trenité “The Chaos”: A Poem to Light Up Your Gray Matter
We tried farro, which was good. An ancient grain, so they say, farro has a pleasant, rubbery texture, a nutty flavor, and […]
Tough Mothers: Raising Children and the Development of Grit
As we have previously mused, there seems to be a necessary element of physical discomfort to develop grit. Our bodies are always […]