Summer is here! Therefore, rich New Yorkers are going out to the Hamptons to compete for status. One of the many ways they do so is of course to build big and expensive houses. In the past, competition among the super-rich has inspired America’s most distinctive architectural styles—for example, the famous “Shingle Style”  that became popular in the late 19th century. … [Read More]

There is a fascinating little British film from the middle of the century named “It Happened Here” which depicts life in Great Britain after the Nazis cross the channel and subjugate the island. Using not a single frame of archive footage, it was made by two British teenagers over the course of eight years before it was finally released in 1965. … [Read More]

Scott McConnell has now responded to the many criticisms of his decision to run John Lukacs’s outrageous review of The Unnecessary War. It is interesting that he does not even mention that Pat Buchanan helped found the magazine and is still the person most associated with it. However what I would like to respond to is his insistence that the book … [Read More]

A few days ago, I began receiving multiple Google alerts about something called “Banned in DC,” an anonymous blog with a fixation on Takimag. The site was established only two week ago, apparently for the express purpose of attacking Takimag writers and talking up the Lukacs/Buchanan controversy. The commentary struck me as rather inane and trivial, and I moved on—until I … [Read More]

In attacking my book Churchill, Hitler and ‘The Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World, Victor Davis Hanson, the court historian of the neoconservatives, charges me with “rewriting ... facts” and showing “ingratitude” to American and British soldiers who fought World Wars I and II.         Both charges are false, and transparently … [Read More]

I never thought I’d see it, a beauty winning a major title, at least not since the Williams sisters and the ghastly Maria Sharapova came on the scene. But there she was last weekend, an olive-skinned enchantress winning the French Open and charming everyone with her femininity and grace. If only Ana Ivanovic did not use the word “guys” so much, … [Read More]

After just having read a George Will column suggesting the likelihood of an Obama presidency lasting until 2016, it dawned on me that most observers have not really reflected upon this perilous leap that we as consumers and global democrats (but not as real citizens of a functioning constitutional republic) are about to take. I am not talking here about the … [Read More]

I’m not a great fan of Adam Sandler who always seems to be doing an impersonation of Jerry Lewis, whose shtick as a juvenile retard I had enjoyed until about the age of…mm…six? I saw Sandler last time in “50 First Dates, a movie that I actually liked (it’s a less sophisticated and funnier take on “Memento”), but I do my … [Read More]

The history of libertarianism as a doctrine and an organized political movement is of interest these days on account of all the attention garnered by Rep. Ron Paul, the Texas congressman known as “Dr. No,” in his quixotic yet attention-getting and surprisingly successful campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. Where do these libertarian types come from, and where are they going? … [Read More]

Rear-view Mirror Conservatism We look at the present through a rear-view mirror.  We march backwards into the future.                                          -Marshall McLuhan Dan Larison’s recent praise of George Grant reminds me of the reason that originally attracted me, as an undergraduate reader, to … [Read More]