Zachary S. Pike on Overcoming Life’s Obstacles
A fine fellow I know in south Florida recently wrote a book entitled Regular. The subtitle reveals the motivating factor that led him to write it: A Young Man with…
Awakening the Spirit of America
“So, September 1, 1939, Germany invades Poland. This is where my book starts.” Speaking recently at the University of Texas (Austin) was Paul M. Sparrow, former director of the Franklin…
Dwelling in a Set of Paradoxes
Suppose you, and many others, were of two minds on a critical issue. “Which suggests not only that opposing positions are held, but that the person holding them is aware…
A Play about Mister Rogers
Many great ‘American’ success stories began in Canada. Take Star Trek, for example: William Shatner (Capt. Kirk) was born there, and Star Trek first aired on television in Canada before…
Hobbes on Sovereignty
It was 373 years ago that Thomas Hobbes wrote Leviathan, a book that many regard as THE masterwork of political philosophy. It was in large part a response to the…
Living Personification of the Marvellous
Virgil hailed him as the greatest part of his fame. He was the “living personification of the marvellous,” and a “central enhancing embellishment” of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus. And…
The Climate of History
Note that the title of this book is not ‘the history of climate,’ but rather ‘the climate of history.’ It summarises the views of a host of thinkers, who wax…
There is no such thing as Blank Page
This book focuses on 18 lives, but it should have been 19. Author Adam Smyth (professor of English literature at Balliol College, Univ. of Oxford) omitted one of the most…
Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical
This is not the musical Hair, but one could be forgiven seeing the importance of hair in this 1990 musical based on the 1886 story of Robert Louis Stevenson: Strange…
Belle: A Ballet for the Ages
Beauty & The Beast has reached iconic status in our culture, thanks to the Disneyfication of the tale which was actually first was told in France in 1740. But what…