History

Burgess Laughlin reviews Anti-intellectualism in American Life, by Richard Hofstadter, and The Age of American Unreason, by Susan Jacoby.

Examines this defining work of yet another man of the mind, showing, among other things, the remarkable scope and integration of Durant’s multivolume world history.

Shows how this man of the mind designed and strove to develop a city of technology, industry, and commerce like none other to this day.

Daniel Wahl reviews Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History, by John David Lewis.

Looks at the accomplishments and legacy of a great hero of science, Herman Boerhaave, the nearly forgotten father of modern medicine, who may well be responsible for the fact that you are still alive.

Surveys the essential history of the British Industrial Revolution, showing that what made this period so remarkably productive was its substantial economic freedom, which unleashed countless industrious minds to solve problems of human survival and prosperity.

Daniel Wahl reviews Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, by Susan Jacoby.

Gideon Reich reviews Why Are Jews Liberals? by Norman Podhoretz.

Tells the story of a little-known scientist whose independence, innovations, and passion for his work spawned an agricultural revolution that saved hundreds of millions of people from starvation.

In my post about the contradiction between the technological sophistication of the Burj Dubai and the primitive superstition on display in the mosque at its pinnacle, I argued that this disparity is another example of the general disparity in progress between science and morality. But what accounts for this gap?…