Category: Book Reviews

A Tale of Christian Martyrdom Well Told

  

I used my Christmas break to do some reading for a new course I’m developing: The American Republic, 1789-1848. The ideas and resources for the course are coming together. One of the books I’m definitely planning to use for this course is An American Betrayal: Cherokee Patriots and the Trail of Tears by Daniel Blake Smith. As a Christian conservative who deeply appreciates the Biblical grounding of our earliest generations, I’m always alert to those who may try to undermine… Read more »

Lessons to Be Learned

  

Back in the 1990s, one of the most influential political organizations was the Christian Coalition. Today it is nonexistent. The goals of the group were excellent, and a number of victories were won. I attended a couple of the Road to Victory conferences in D.C. All the big names in the conservative political world fell over themselves to speak at these conferences. Then came the fall. A combination of money troubles—some brought on by liberal spending, ironically—unfair government investigations, which… Read more »

Book Review: Destiny of the Republic

  

I love history books that read like novels. History is a story and should be told accordingly. Character, plot, and all other features of a good novel should be incorporated. As long as the story is fully documented and doesn’t deviate from the facts, it can be a delight to read. I just finished one such book. It’s called Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard. Few Americans know… Read more »

Principles & Honor

  

I spoke last evening at the Winter Haven, Florida, 9/12 Project meeting. For those who are unfamiliar with the organization, it began after the 2008 elections with the expressed purpose of educating citizens on the kinds of principles and values that formed the bedrock of our nation and our government. This organization is performing a valuable public service, and I heartily endorse its goals. They are the same goals I have maintained throughout my twenty-two years of teaching at universities…. Read more »

Worthwhile Reading

  

If you have been a regular reader of this blog, you can’t have escaped noticing that two of my academic interests are Ronald Reagan and Whittaker Chambers. I have worked for a number of years on a book comparing the two; the manuscript is finished now, and I’m in the process of trying to find a publisher. That may be a backward way of writing a book, but I never knew when or if I would actually have time to… Read more »

God's Original Intent

  

The last two days, I’ve promoted a book of devotionals based on the writings of C. S. Lewis. Id like to offer one more example from that book today. I comment on politics and government regularly, and often I speak of the concept of original intent—how we need to look back at what the author or authors meant when they wrote their words rather than taking them out of context or ignoring their original meaning. Lewis applies that same principle… Read more »

Modern Verbicide

  

Yesterday, I recommended a new book of devotionals based on the writings of C. S. Lewis. Today, I’d like to give you a sample of what you will find inside. One of Lewis’s lesser-known works is Studies in Words, which is primarily academic. However, there are salient points from those pages that apply to everyone. Here’s one entry that deals with the meanings of words, and how we often dilute those meanings. It begins with a quote from Lewis, then… Read more »