Human Nature and the Human Future: Emotional Amoral Egoism, by Nayef R. F. Al-Rodhan
Certain questions have vexed philosophers for millennia: What is human nature? Do we have free will? How can we build healthy societies? Are we motivated more by emotion or by…
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Uncancelling Academics: Can New Universities Save Higher Education?
New projects in higher education such as the University of Austin promise to counterbalance the notorious left-leaning political bias in academia. However, to have this kind of cultural impact, they…
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Keeping Confrontation Alive: “A Hitch in Time”
In 2015, a new essay collection by Christopher Hitchens was released posthumously. The hardcover dust jacket of that collection, And Yet…, informs us that “Hitchens left at his death nearly…
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Germany’s Quiet Nuclear Disaster
The 2019 miniseries Chernobyl, about the deadly 1986 nuclear power plant accident in Ukraine, was—unsurprisingly—an immense commercial success: a nuclear disaster makes for good drama. But in my native country…
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The Power of Curiosity: Talk with Monica Guzman
In this week’s episode of Areo Magazine‘s Two for Tea podcast, I talk to author, journalist and director of Braver Angels Monica Guzman about her forthcoming book, I Never Thought Of It…
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Blowjobs and Makeovers: Hitchens’ Comic Writing
On this, the tenth anniversary of Christopher Hitchens’ death, there will no doubt be a barrage of articles lamenting the loss of his singular and eloquent voice, and an equal…
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Seeing Hitchens Clearly: A Review of Ben Burgis’ Christopher Hitchens: What He Got Right, How He Went Wrong, and Why He Still Matters
The term “the American Left” is as near to being meaningless or nonsensical as any term could really be in politics. It isn’t really a force in politics anymore. And…
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A Tribute to Christopher Hitchens
Listen to this week’s episode of Areo’s associated podcast, Two for Tea, hosted by editor-in-chief Iona Italia. My guests this week were Ben Burgis, author of Christopher Hitchens—What He Got Right, How He…
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Why Christopher Hitchens Still Matters
Christopher Hitchens was an intellectual with an astonishing breadth and depth of knowledge of politics, literature, philosophy and culture—as well as a magnificent writer with a passion for the English…
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Santa, Superman and Notre Dame: On the Reinvention of Culture
So, it turns out that Santa Claus is gay. Or at least he is according to Norway’s postal service, Posten, which recently released a Christmas advertisement showing him enjoying some…
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Julie Burchill’s “Welcome to the Woke Trials”: A Review of a Rant
Welcome to the Woke Trials: How Identity Killed Progressive Politics had a difficult birth. Hachette Book Group had originally agreed to publish it, but dropped the deal after its author,…
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Golgo 13 and the Globalization of James Bond
Whether you see Ian Fleming’s James Bond as the quintessential masculine spy or as a throwback to a backward era, Agent 007’s enduring place in literature and cinema is well…
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Hijab is Not a Symbol of Freedom
The Council of Europe’s Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Division recently tweeted out posters containing images of women whose faces were partially veiled by a hijab. The tweets were presumably meant to…
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Was Athenian Democracy Dependent on Imperialism?
“The paradox of ancient Greek democracy is that the freedom and rights of citizens depended on the subjugation and exploitation of others,” declares the University of New Brunswick classicist Matthew…
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Liberal Rights, Progressive Wrongs
In contemporary discourse, the concepts of liberalism and progressivism are routinely conflated, especially in American politics. But, as historically understood, they are distinct, and in many ways at odds with…
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The Continued Danger of Nuclear War
In her 2017 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Beatrice Fihn acknowledged the insane situation we find ourselves in due to the widespread militaristic harnessing of the atom: The risk for…
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Some Thoughts on Cancel Culture
Proponents of cancel culture call for the rejection and vilification of any institutions, individuals or facts that make them uncomfortable or conflict with their world view. I find one recent…
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Soft Coercion at the Woke University
Spectacular examples of cancel culture seem to happen weekly. Last month, the University of Michigan banished from the classroom one of its distinguished professors, Bright Sheng—a MacArthur Fellow and composer—because…
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