Max Boot’s “Reagan: His Life and Legend” explores the duality of Ronald Reagan’s persona, juxtaposing his historical life with the mythology created by the conservative movement. Boot meticulously reconstructs Reagan’s presidency, revealing him as both ideological and pragmatic, while examining his contradictions and the complexities of his political legacy without succumbing to simplistic judgements.
Andy Burnham, the new British Prime Minister, has reignited discussions around neoliberalism, linking its failures to the decline of industrial communities. While Sebastián Edwards and Tim Lankester’s works critique past economic models, they reveal that neoliberalism’s legacy remains due to practical adaptations rather than ideological purity, complicating any calls for alternatives.
The essay critiques the notion that beauty is solely subjective, arguing instead that true beauty arises from a disciplined perception that allows subjects to reveal their complexities. Drawing on the philosophies of Heidegger and Murdoch, it asserts that art must strive for a truthful representation of reality, embracing the intricacies and contradictions inherent within.
A review of Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America by Sam Tanenhaus.
This essay explores the concept of “bullshit jobs” as a degraded form of secular heroism, drawing on the theories of Ernest Becker and David Graeber. It argues that pointless employment undermines the sense of agency and meaning in life, leading to a culture where work becomes synonymous with identity, despite its lack of purpose.
This essay examines the inadequacies of liberalism as a political framework, particularly its failure to create coherent political identities. By utilizing William James’s concept of the self, it argues liberalism fell short in aligning material, social, and moral dimensions, leading to a crisis of the liberal subject and instability in contemporary political systems.
The Beginning of Terror 