Summer 2020 • Vol. 15, No. 2

Gratitude, properly understood and practiced, has the power to greatly enhance our relationships and our lives. Tragically, though, widespread misconceptions about its nature keep many people from fully enjoying it.

At the height of the Nazi reign of terror, a group of idealistic young Germans rose to challenge Hitler’s regime. In reference to the moral purity of their cause, they dubbed themselves the “White Rose.”

Metallica’s “Black Album” exalts individualism, liberty, self-interest, personal development, and the importance of the reasoning mind.

Robert Smalls had much in common with many other heroes of history, such as Joan of Arc and Rosa Parks. Like them, Smalls refused to live as a victim.

Miami Beach boasts the world’s greatest concentration of art deco buildings, which reflect a distinct era in American history—along with the can-do attitude that has defined the nation.

“We need to look at the suffering caused by lockdowns. People suffer when they get COVID-19, and they suffer when they’re thrown out of work and can’t eat. They suffer both ways.” — Michael Fumento

In Heroes, Legends, Champions, Andrew Bernstein has created a fascinating hybrid of useful philosophy and inspirational vignettes about outstanding men and women. The result is a book that can help people rise to heroic heights in their own lives.

Whereas many (if not most) who get COVID-19 may never even know it, the same cannot be said of the government’s “cure.” Barred from taking the actions necessary to support their lives, many are now worse off than they would be taking their chances without lockdowns.

Although the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling is a partial victory for freedom, it falls short of making a principled stand for individual rights.

As cities shelve compulsory attendance mandates, curriculum directives, and annual testing requirements, parents are catching a glimpse of education without forced schooling.

These heroes—from medical professionals to corporations to small business owners and countless others—demonstrate that to the extent that individuals are free to act according to their own judgment, they can, and often do, triumph over tragedy.

If only implicitly, politicians are acknowledging that in order to be most effective, health-care professionals must have the right to act on their own judgment—and that acknowledging and protecting this right will, indeed, save lives.

The government response to the COVID-19 pandemic has harmed many innocent people. But stimulus packages will only make a bad situation worse. Though touted as a cure, such “stimulus” is, in fact, another disease.

Here are twenty books, movies, TV shows, and video games with notably positive and/or philosophically valuable messages to help you pass the time, keep your mind active, and keep your spiritual fuel tank full.

Although economic and social restrictions are easing in some parts of the world, most of us aren’t yet seeing the light at the end of the lockdown tunnel. Here are twenty more uplifting, inspiring, and/or philosophically valuable works of art to keep you going for the next month or two.

Education is obviously of enormous value to students of all ages. Often overlooked, however, is the incredible value of teaching to the teacher, specifically the cognitive benefits a teacher gains.

Isabella Stewart Gardner was a firecracker of a woman with a studied yet eclectic taste in art and the means to acquire lots of it. As one friend put it, she lived “at a rate and intensity, with a reality that makes other lives seem pale, thin and shadowy.”

For those who have read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and wish to dig deeper, Robert Tracinski’s So Who Is John Galt, Anyway? is an excellent companion.

The first in a two-part series on the country’s fundamental ideas, America’s Revolutionary Mind is not a narrative of events but a systematic re-creation of the philosophy that led colonists to, in the words of Thomas Paine, “begin the world over again.”

Rand Paul’s The Case against Socialism provides helpful analyses to address the arguments of today’s socialists. What it sorely lacks is a strong, moral case against socialism and for its antithesis: capitalism.

In a world where hyper-focus on specialization is leading to greater and greater compartmentalization, this book is a welcome call for a renewed focus on integration.

Whereas a lot of modern fiction advocates moral relativism or champions the “antihero,” Geralt of Rivia offers philosophically refreshing, action-packed rebuttals to those tiring tropes.

Charles Portis’s novel is a story filled with memorable characters and stimulating action that treats serious themes with lighthearted yet benevolent wit. For readers looking to explore the Western genre of the great American canon, True Grit is a true classic.

If you can stand a tearjerker—and if you enjoy art that glorifies imagination, individualism, free inquiry, and the passionate pursuit of values—you may just fall in love with Moira Walley-Beckett’s Anne with an E.