The discoveries of the Greeks and Romans introduced the long Western tradition of rationalism and empiricism. @VDHanson traces the intellectual legacy of ancient Greece and Rome. Read on in the September issue of The New Criterion: newcriterion.com/article/the…

“I confess that the prospect of humanity’s extermination by an autonomous and malevolent machine does occasionally raise a flutter of anxiety in my own breast.” Read “Of decent dissent,” by James Bowman. newcriterion.com/article/of-…

“Sitting in the concert hall, I asked myself a question: ‘Is this work emotionally manipulative?’” Read “New York chronicle,” by Jay Nordlinger. @jaynordlinger newcriterion.com/article/new…

“Yet the curators admit, in their accompanying essay, that many of the ‘objects’—their word—they selected don’t fall into clear categories.” Read “Group dynamics,” by Karen Smith. newcriterion.com/article/gro…

“That the show obsessively distorts history to fit today’s cultural fads in exactly the way an egregiously progressive theater troupe would is the foundation of the humor.” Read “Hysterically speaking,” by Kyle Smith. @rkylesmith newcriterion.com/article/hys…

“If this is not a gerrymander, created with Justice Kagan’s blessing, then the word has no meaning.” Read “Justice Kagan’s partisan hypocrisy,” by James Piereson. newcriterion.com/dispatch/ju…

“The U.S. government has made a lot of mistakes over the years, but it handled McVeigh’s execution with wisdom.” Read “Glorifying evil,” by Warren Kozak. newcriterion.com/dispatch/gl…

“Much of our early days at Krebs’ was therefore devoted to acquiring good manners.” Read “School days,” by Henrik Bering. newcriterion.com/article/sch…

“Taine dismantled the rationalist foundations of earlier French liberals.” Read “Hippolyte Taine & the haunting persistence of history,” by Cory L. Andrews. newcriterion.com/article/hip…

“If Spark was, as Bailey insists, a shape-shifter, then she was also an arch manipulator.” Read “Spark’s fire,” by D. J. Taylor. @djtaylorwriter newcriterion.com/article/spa…

“The hilarity that ensued upon the announcement that Carson was our latest Nobel laureate was entertaining.” Read “Ignoble Nobels.”  newcriterion.com/article/ign…

“The movement has a collective case of oppositional-defiance disorder.” Read “What do progressives really want?” by Lionel Shriver. newcriterion.com/article/wha…

“Rubio’s chief aim in this speech was to counter this cramped and timorous spirit of safetyism.” Read “Thumotic thoughts.” newcriterion.com/article/thu…

“The book is the single most revolutionary tool ever to fall into human hands.” Read “Bound by the book,” by David Butterfield. newcriterion.com/article/bou…

The November issue has arrived. Find inside: the history of the book, progressive activists, Muriel Spark, recently published fiction, Samuel Richardson’s health & more.

“Nolan’s characters strangely speak in American slang.” Read “A post-Western ‘Odyssey,’” by Victor Davis Hanson. newcriterion.com/article/a-p…

“It was only natural that a man like Caesar would have a vested interest in curbing the wild variations of the Latin language.” Read “Decline & rise,” by Spencer A. Klavan. newcriterion.com/article/dec…

Our critics pick: “Sunday at The Met—Frederic Edwin Church at 200,” hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (October 25). @metmuseum newcriterion.com/dispatch/th…

Last Friday, at the Century Association, The New Criterion hosted “Art in America: a symposium,” a series of lectures and panel discussions about the future of art in the United States. Speakers included Philip Rylands, Karen Wilkin, Eric Gibson, Jacob Collins, James Ewing, and James Panero. A video of the evening is forthcoming for our supporters, and look to the December issue for an adaptation of the lectures and conversations.

Our critics pick: “Russell Kirk’s Lord of the Hollow Dark and the Uncanny Setting of the Ghostly Tale,” hosted by The University Bookman (October 27). @JamesPanero @ubookman newcriterion.com/dispatch/th…

Our critics pick: “Skylark Vocal Ensemble Presents: Victoria’s Requiem,” at the Hispanic Society (October 25). @HSAmuseum newcriterion.com/dispatch/th…