The Children of Hurin as it reads in the Silmarillion, is a great, dark, tale. Now, according to Salon, the full-length version finally put out by Tolkien’s son is well worth the wait: I came away from “The Children of Húrin” with a renewed appreciation for the fact that Tolkien’s overarching narrative is much more… Continue reading

Ralph Bennett at TCSDaily: Technology will always make it ever easier to live and die. And its “proper control” will continue to be the first refuge of those who find it difficult to believe, let alone deal with, the truth of an evil or demented mind, a dark heart, a hellishly bent soul and its… Continue reading

What a woman: She used to tend her garden in Connecticut wearing a bikini, without regard to ultraviolet rays and “those loathsome Lyme ticks.” Her husband — who, she said, “covers himself up as if he were going on a safari” — contracted Lyme disease anyway. Rest in peace.

Weekly Iraq update from Krauthammer: Fouad Ajami, just returned from his seventh trip to Iraq, is similarly guardedly optimistic and explains the change this way: Fundamentally, the Sunnis have lost the battle of Baghdad. They initiated it with their indiscriminate terror campaign that they assumed would cow the Shiites, whom they view with contempt as… Continue reading

What’s wrong with paleoconservatism? Ross Douthat: …paleoconservatism tends to display the weaknesses you would expect from an intellectual movement that hasn’t held power, in any meaningful way, in God knows how long – specifically, a tendency to advance ideas without any regard whatsoever to their practicality, to condemn others for making compromises without pausing the… Continue reading