Friday, July 29, 2022

A review of Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” (book)

›
“Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general...
Monday, July 18, 2022

A review of PBS’s “The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela”

›
“No one in my family had ever attended school ... On the first day of school my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name. Thi...
Thursday, July 14, 2022

A review of Cecil Jenkins’ “A Brief History of France” (book)

›
“The French people solemnly proclaim their attachment to the Rights of Man and the principles of national sovereignty as defined by the Dec...
Sunday, July 10, 2022

Some thoughts from Blackstone about punishing criminals

›
“I proceed in the next place to consider the general nature of punishments : which are evils or inconveniences consequent upon crimes and m...

Wikipedia has some bad information about William Blackstone

›
Note: Sir William Blackstone was writing in the  eighteenth century . But in the quotations given from him in this particular blog post, he ...
Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Actually, Rousseau did NOT influence the Founding Fathers (sorry Wikipedia)

›
Wikipedia argues that Rousseau influenced the Founding Fathers … I have often heard people claim that Rousseau “influenced” the Founding Fa...
Wednesday, June 8, 2022

A review of Neil Oliver’s “Vikings: The Real Warriors” (BBC)

›
In the year 793, the Vikings attacked a monastery on the English island of Lindisfarne . It was the beginning of the Viking invasion of Engl...