articles * essays * reviews
All Writings | Book Reviews | Foreign Affairs | Higher Education | Law | Political Philosophy
Book Reviews
Heritage of Liberty
A review of Leading the Way: The Story of Ed Feulner and the Heritage Foundation by Lee Edwards
The Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2013
Tom Wolfe's Miami
A review of Back to Blood by Tom Wolfe
Policy Review, Feb./Mar. 2013
The Constitution and Globalization
A review of Taming Globalization: International Law, the U.S. Constitution, and the New World Order by Julian Ku and John Yoo
Policy Review, Aug./Sept. 2012
Reading into the Constitution
A review of Living Originalism by Jack M. Balkin
Policy Review, June/July 2012
Reconsidering the Arab Spring
A review of The Arab Awakening: America and the Transformation of the Middle East by Kenneth M. Pollack (et al.)
Policy Review, Apr./May 2012
Shawcross on Terror
A review of Justice and the Enemy: From the Nuremberg Trials to Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, by William Shawcross
Policy Review, Feb./Mar. 2012
Boot Camp for Citizens
A review of Teaching America by David Feith
The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 9, 2011
Gordon Wood's America
A review of The Idea of America: Reflections on the Birth of the United States, by Gordon Wood
Policy Review, Dec. 2011/Jan. 2012
A review of Political Evil: What It Is and How to Combat It, by Alan Wolfe
The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 4, 2011
Religion in America
A review of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell
Policy Review, Oct./Nov. 2011
God and Man and Politics
A review of The City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era, by Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner
The Weekly Standard, July 4, 2011
Liberal Internationalism and Freedom
A review of Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order, by G. John Ikenberry
Policy Review, June/July 2011
The Goldstone Mess
A review of The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict, edited by Adam Horowitz, Lizzy Ratner and Philip Weiss
Policy Review, Apr./May. 2011
Thinking About Torture
A review of Because It Is Wrong: Torture, Privacy, and Presidential Power in the Age of Terror, by Charles Fried and Gregory Fried
Policy Review, Feb./Mar. 2011
One State?
A review of What is a Palestinian State Worth? by Sari Nusseibeh
The Jewish Review of Books, Winter 2011
The Thinker
A review of Reading Obama by James T. Kloppenberg
The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 5, 2010
The Cheshire Cat Conservative
A review of Athwart History: Half a Century of Polemics, Animadversions, and Illuminations: A William F. Buckley Jr. Omnibus, edited by Linda Bridges and Roger Kimball
Policy Review, Oct./Nov. 2010
The Exceptional Document
A review of The Citizen's Constitution: An Annotated Guide by Seth Lipsky
Policy Review, Apr./May 2010
The Lawyering of War
A review of The War on Terror and the Laws of War: A Military Perspective by Michael Lewis, Eric Jensen, Geoffrey Corn, Victor Hansen, Richard Jackson and James Schoettler
Policy Review, Feb./Mar. 2010
Alive and Well
A review of Reappraising the Right: The Past and Future of American Conservatism by George H. Nash
The Weekly Standard, Dec. 28, 2009
Breakdown in the Academy
A review of The Marketplace of Ideas by Louis Menand
Policy Review, Dec. 2009/Jan. 2010
Reagan's Candid Way
A review of The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution 1980-1989 by Steven F. Hayward
Policy Review, Oct./Nov. 2009
A Exaggerated Death
A review of The Death of Conservatism by Sam Tanenhaus
National Review Online, Sept. 3, 2009
Conserving
A review of The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History by Patrick Allitt
Policy Review, Aug./Sept. 2009
Moderation is No Vice
A review of Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin
The Weekly Standard, July 27, 2009
God and John Rawls
A review of A Brief Inquiry into the Meaning of Sin and Faith by John Rawls, edited by Thomas Nagel
Policy Review, June/July 2009
His Liberal Hour
A review of The Future of Liberalism by Alan Wolfe
The Weekly Standard, May 25, 2009
The Aesthetic Urge
A review of The Art Instinct by Denis Dutton
Policy Review, Apr./May 2009
Towering Ivories
A review of Save the World on Your Own Time by Stanley Fish
The Weekly Standard, Nov. 3, 2008
Bookends: 11/9 and 9/11
A review of America Between the Wars‚ From 11/9 to 9/11: The Misunderstood Years Between the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Start of the War on Terror by Derek Chollet and James Goldgeier, and The Return of History and the End of Dreams by Robert Kagan
World Affairs, Fall 2008
Peaceless
A review of The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace by Aaron David Miller
Policy Review, Aug./Sept. 2008
Answering Edward Said
A review of Defending the West by Ibn Warraq
Policy Review, June/July 2008
After America: Fareed Zakaria's 'Post-American World'
The New York Sun, Apr. 30, 2008
Fighting Jihad
A review of Faith, Reason, and the War against Jihadism by George Weigel
Policy Review, Apr./May 2008
The Persistence of Religion
A
review of A Secular Age by Charles Taylor
The Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2008
On Toleration
A
review of Pernicious Tolerance: How Teaching to "Accept Differences" Undermines Civil Society by Robert Weissberg, and Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in the Age of Identity and Empire by Wendy Brown
The American Interest, Mar./Apr. 2008
Exceptionally American
A review of God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World by Walter Russell Mead
Policy Review, Feb./Mar. 2008
What Is a University for?
A review of Education's End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life by Anthony T. Kronman
Policy Review, Dec. 2007/Jan. 2008
Democracy at Home
A review of Democracy's Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World's Most Popular Form of Government by Michael Mandelbaum
The Weekly Standard, Oct. 22, 2007
Contested Authority
A review of The Stillborn God by Mark Lilla
The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 15, 2007
Vulgarizing the War Debate
A review of The Matador's Cape: America's Reckless Response to Terror by Stephen Holmes
Policy Review, Aug./Sept. 2007
PDF version
American Creed
A review of Americanism: The Fourth Great American Religion by David Gelernter
The New York Post, July 15, 2007
Spinoza's Religion
A review of Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity by Rebecca Goldstein
Policy Review, June/July 2007
PDF version
Proudly Liberal
A review of Freedom's Power: The True Force of Liberalism by Paul Starr
Policy Review, Apr./May 2007
PDF version
Illiberal Liberalism
A review of Is Democracy Possible Here? Principles for a New Political Debate by Ronald Dworkin
First Things, Apr. 2007
New Media and Old
A review of The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008 by Mark Halperin and John F. Harris
Policy Review, Feb./Mar. 2007
PDF version
Against Relativism
A review of Neoconservatism: Why We Need It by Douglas Murray
The Weekly Standard, Oct. 23, 2006
Partisan Freedom
A review of Whose Freedom: The Battle Over America's Most Important Idea by George Lakoff
Policy Review, Oct./Nov. 2006
PDF version
Freedom at War
A review of Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency by Richard A. Posner
The Weekly Standard, Sept. 18, 2006
War-Torn Democrats
A review of With All Our Might: A Progressive Strategy for Defeating Jihadism and Defending Liberty, ed. Will Marshall, and The Good Fight: Why Liberals -- and Only Liberals -- Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again by Peter Beinart
Policy Review, Aug./Sept. 2006
PDF version
When Liberalism Was Young
A review of John Stuart Mill: A Biography by Nicholas Capaldi
The Claremont Review of Books, Summer 2006
Gentlemen Revolutionaries
A review of Revolutionary Characters: What Made The Founders Different by Gordon S. Wood
Policy Review, June/July 2006
The Case Against Compromise
A review of The Party of Death by Ramesh Ponnuru
The Wall Street Journal, June 1, 2006
Progressives for Growth
A review of The Moral Consequences of Growth by Benjamin M. Friedman and The Pro-Growth Progressive: An Economic Strategy for Shared Prosperity by Gene Sperling
Policy Review, Apr./May 2006
Literature in Theory
A review of Theory's Empire: An Anthology of Dissent, eds. Daphne Patai and Will H. Corral
Policy Review, Feb./Mar., 2006
Executive Muscle
A review of The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11 by John Yoo
The New York Post, Jan. 15, 2006
Democratizing the Constitution
A review of Active Liberty: Interpreting our Democratic Constitution by Stephen Breyer
Policy Review, Dec. 2005/Jan. 2006
A Worthy War Critic
A review of The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq by George Packer
Policy Review, Oct./Nov. 2005
Educating the University
A review of Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus by Donald Alexander Downs
Policy Review, June/July 2005
Laws of Nations
A review of A New World Order by Anne-Marie Slaughter, The Limits of International Law by Jack Goldsmith and Eric Posner, and Law without Nations? Why Constitutional Government Requires Sovereign States by Jeremy Rabkin
Policy Review, Apr./May 2005
He is Charlotte Simmons
A review of I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
Policy Review, Feb./Mar. 2005
Enlightenment Rightly Understood
A review of The Roads to Modernity: The British, French and American Enlightenments by Gertrude Himmelfarb
Policy Review, Dec. 2004/Jan. 2005
Politicizing Reason
A review of Reason: Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America by Robert Reich
Policy Review, Oct./Nov. 2004
Tabloid Scholarship
A review of Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire by Anne Norton
The New York Post, Oct. 3, 2004
Lubavitchers and Liberals
A review of Lubavitchers as Citizens: A Paradox of Liberal Democracy by Jan Feldman
Policy Review, Aug./Sept. 2004
This is Berlin: When a Famed Thinker Took to the Airwaves
A review of Freedom and Its Betrayal: Six Enemies of Human Liberty by Isaiah Berlin
The Forward, Dec. 20, 2002
Reasonable Doubts
A review of Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Modern Philosophy by Susan Neiman, and Truth and Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy by Bernard Williams
The Washington Post, Dec. 15, 2002, p. BW04
Byron at Ground Zero
A review of Romantics at War: Glory and Guilt in the Age of Terrorism by George P. Fletcher
The New Republic, November 4, 2002, pp. 31- 37
The Pathos of the Kass Report
A review of Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry, a report by the President's Council on Bioethics
Policy Review, Oct./Nov. 2002, pp. 71-78
Beyond Good and Evil
A review of Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography by Rüdiger Safranski, trans. Shelley Frisch, and Zarathustra's Secret: The Interior Life of Friedrich Nietzsche by Joachim Köhler, trans. Ronald Taylor
The Washington Post, p. BW15, Aug. 18, 2002
Returning to Reason Reasonably
A review of Return to Reason by Stephen Toulmin
First Things, August 1, 2002, p. 61
After Autonomy
A review of Liberal Pluralism: The Implications of Value Pluralism for Political Theory and Practice by William Galston
The Weekly Standard, June 17, 2002, pp. 35-39
In Praise of Balance
A review of The Ship of State by Norma Thompson
The New Republic, May 20, 2002, pp. 41-45
Liberal Education
A review of Charters, Vouchers and Public Education, eds. Paul E. Peterson and David E. Campbell; Revolution at the Margins: The Impact of Competition on Urban School Systems by Frederick M. Hess; Rhetoric versus Reality: What We Know and What We Need to Know About Vouchers and Charter Schools by Brian P. Gill, P. Michael Timpane, Karen E. Ross and Dominic J. Brewer; and Schools, Vouchers and the American Public by Terry M. Moe
The Weekly Standard, May 20, 2002, pp. 35-39
Jane Addams's Values
A review of Jane Addams and the Dream of American Democracy by Jean Bethke Elshtain, and The Jane Addams Reader, ed. Jean Bethke Elshtain
The Weekly Standard, Mar. 25, 2002, pp. 36-38
Money and Love
A review of Economic Sentiments by Emma Rothschild
The New Republic, Oct. 1, 2001, pp. 41-45
Down to the Wire
A review of Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election by the Political Staff of The Washington Post; Bush v. Gore: The Court Cases and Commentary, eds. E.J. Dionne Jr. and William Kristol; 36 Days: The Complete Chronicle of the 2000 Presidential Election Crisis by Correspondents of The New York Times; and The Perfect Tie: The True Story of the 2000 Presidential Election by James W. Ceaser and Andrew E. Busch
The Times Literary Supplement, July 27, 2001, p. 27
Reckless Disregard, II
A review of The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose our President by Vincent Bugliosi
National Review Online, July 20, 2001
Reckless Disregard
A review of Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000 by Alan Dershowitz
National Review Online, July 13, 2001
Questioning America
A review of Moral Freedom by Alan Wolfe
The Weekly Standard, June 25, 2001, pp. 34-37
Virtue and Poverty
A review of Fighting Poverty with Virtue by Joel Schwartz
The Public Interest, Summer 2001, pp. 116-120
Complex, My Dear Holmes
A review of Law without Values by Albert W. Alschuler
Times Literary Supplement, May 25, 2001, p. 14
Ethicism
A review of Conflict of Interest in American Public Life by Andrew Stark
The New Republic, Mar. 5, 2001, pp. 40-44
And Lofty Flowed the Don
A review of The Cunning of Unreason by John Dunn
The New Republic, Nov. 13, 2000, pp. 42-45
Wooed by Freedom?
A review of Wing to Wing, Oar to Oar, ed. Amy Kass and Leon Kass
The Atlantic Monthly, Oct. 2000, pp. 128-133
Sensitivity Isn't Enough
A review of Virtue, Reason and Toleration by Glen Newey
The London Review of Books, Sept. 7, 2000, pp. 17-18
Easy Virtue
A review of Sovereign Virtue by Ronald Dworkin
National Review, August 28, 2000, pp. 43-45
Liberty at War with Itself?
A review of In the Name of Liberalism: Illiberal Social Policy in the United States and Britain by Desmond King
The Times Literary Supplement, August 25, 2000, p. 28
The Futility of Utility
A review of Law and Social Norms by Eric A. Posner
The New Republic, June 5, 2000, pp. 38-44
A Dramatic Struggle Over Self-Definition
A review of The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul by Yoram Hazony
The Wall Street Journal, June 1, 2000, p. A20
The Principle Problem
A review of The Trouble with Principle by Stanley Fish
The Weekly Standard, Mar. 20, 2000, pp. 27-31
Liberalism's Discontents
A review of The Betrayal of Liberalism: How the Disciples of Freedom and Equality Helped Foster the Illiberal Politics of Coercion and Control, ed. Hilton Kramer and Roger Kimball
The Weekly Standard, Feb. 21, 2000, pp. 33-35
Other People's Mothers
A review of A Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution and Cooperation by Peter Singer, and Practical Ethics (2nd edition) by Peter Singer
The New Republic, Jan. 10, 2000, pp. 27-37
Feminism vs. Multiculturalism? The Liberal Project at Odds with Itself
A review of Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? by Susan Moller Okin and respondents, eds. Joshua Cohen, Matthew Howard and Martha C. Nussbaum
The Weekly Standard, Nov. 1, 1999, pp. 40-43
Reduction and Betrayal
A review of The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory by Richard A. Posner
The New Republic, August 23, 1999, pp. 38-45
The Pearl Diver
A review of The Attack of the Blob: Hannah Arendt's Concept of the Social by Hanna Fenichel Pitkin
The New Republic, June 14, 1999, pp. 44-52
Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places
A review of Monica's Story by Andrew Morton
The Jerusalem Report, Apr. 26, 1999, pp. 48-49
Beyond Victimhood
A review of A Dream Deferred: The Second Betrayal of Black Freedom in America by Shelby Steele
Commentary, Feb. 1999, pp. 66-67
Toward a More Complex Liberalism
A review of The Virtues of Liberalism by James Kloppenberg
The Boston Book Review, Oct. 1998, p. 25
Fear and Thinking
A review of Political Thought and Political Thinkers by Judith N. Shklar, ed. Stanley Hoffmann; and Redeeming Political Thought by Judith N. Shklar, eds. Stanley Hoffmann and Dennis F. Thompson
The New Republic, July 13, 1998, pp. 34-39
Can Liberalism be Saved?
A review of Achieving our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth Century America by Richard Rorty
Commentary, June 1998, pp. 75-78
The Reason of Revelation
A review of Jewish Philosophy and the Crisis of Modernity: Essays and Lectures in Modern Jewish Thought by Leo Strauss, ed. Kenneth Hart Green
The Weekly Standard, May 25, 1998, pp. 31-34
Book Review
A review
of Free Markets and Social Justice by Cass R. Sunstein
The American Political Science Review, Mar. 1998, pp. 213-214
Book Review
A
review of The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche, eds. Kathleen Higgins and Bernd Magnus
The Philosophical Review, Mar. 1998, pp. 340-342
Liberalism Strikes Back
A review of The Era of the Individual: A Contribution to a History of Subjectivity by Alain Renaut, trans. M.B. DeBevoise and Franklin Philip
The New Republic, Dec. 15, 1997, pp. 32-37
Saving Liberalism's Soul
A review of The Growth of the Liberal Soul by David Walsh
First Things, Nov. 1997, pp. 47-52
The Politic Moralist
A review of Hypocrisy and Integrity: Machiavelli, Rousseau, and the Ethics of Politics by Ruth W. Grant
The New Republic, Sept. 1, 1997, pp. 36-40
Thou Shalt Not Kill
A review of The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism by Regina M. Schwartz
The New Republic, June 23, 1997, pp. 41-45
Beyond Pangloss
A review of Leibniz' Universal Jurisprudence: Justice as Charity of the Wise by Patrick Riley
The New Republic, Apr. 7, 1997, pp. 38-41
The Styles of Modern Politics
A review of The Politics of Faith and the Politics of Scepticism by Michael Oakeshott
First Things, Apr. 1997, pp. 38-42
Book Review
A review of Spinoza, Liberalism, and the Question of Jewish Identity by Steven B. Smith
The Wilson Quarterly, Spring 1997, p. 103
The Debating Society
A review of Democracy and Disagreement by Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson
The New Republic, Nov. 25, 1996, pp. 36-42
The Arrogance of Compassion
A review of The Politics of Meaning by Michael Lerner
The Jerusalem Report, Sept. 19, 1996, pp. 59-61
The Art of Association
A review of The Fragility of Freedom by Joshua Mitchell
The New Republic, June 24, 1996, pp. 44-49
The Religion of Democracy
A review of John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism by Alan Ryan
The Public Interest, Winter 1996, pp. 133-139
Communitarian Criticisms and Liberal Lessons
A review of Communitarianism and Its Critics by Daniel A. Bell, Looking Backward by Derek Phillips, and Liberals and Communitarians by Stephen Mulhall and Adam Swift
The Responsive Community, Fall 1995, pp. 54-64
Friends of Liberalism Should be Grateful
A review of Passions and Constraint by Stephen Holmes
The Boston Book Review, Sept. 1995, pp. 5-6
Rediscovering Liberalism
A review of An Intellectual History of Liberalism by Pierre Manent
The Boston Book Review, Mar. 1995, pp. 12, 14
Liberal Zealotry
A review of The Anatomy of Antiliberalism by Stephen Holmes
Yale Law Journal 103, pp. 1363-1382
Book Review
A review of We the People, Vol. 1: Foundations by Bruce Ackerman
Eighteenth Century Studies, Summer 1993, pp. 692-697
The Correspondence of I and Thou
A review of The Letters of Martin Buber, eds. Nahum N. Glatzer and Paul Mendes-Flohr, trans. Richard and Clara Winston and Harry Zohn
The Forward, Nov. 20, 1992, pp. 9, 11
Book Review
A review of Nietzsche and the Politics of Aristocratic Radicalism by Bruce Detwiler
Political Theory, Nov. 1991, pp. 683-687
Toward a Feminist Orthodoxy
A review of Toward a Feminist Theory of the State by Catharine MacKinnon
Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities 3, pp. 301-314
Reconstructing Nietzsche as Progressive
A review of Nietzsche and Political Thought by Mark Warren
Review of Politics, Fall 1989, pp. 623-628