Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin by Tracy Lee Simmons, Forward by William F. Buckley (ISI Books, $24.95 (US) 290 pgs) Amongst the growing numbers of parents seeking alternatives to mainstream public education, especially those of religious persuasions or simply concerned with instilling a heavy dose of humane learning, there would appear to be an increasing interest in a [...]
As I Lay Dying: Meditations Upon Returning by Fr Richard John Neuhaus (Perseus Books, 224 pages, $32.95) To stare certainly at death, across an uncertain number of years and, thereby, to live in ignorance and expectation of what Thomas Hardy called the "day which (lies) sly and unseen among all the other days of the year," the day of our death; this [...]
A History of Canadian Catholicism by Terence J. Fay (McGill University Press, $27.95, 400 pages) Terence J. Fay is a Jesuit priest and author of A History of Canadian Catholicism. The latter fact you would know from looking at the cover of the book. The former is impossible to find anywhere in the book, so great are the efforts to hide Fay's [...]
Peter Kreeft, Three Approaches to Abortion San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2002 135 pages, $9.95 (U.S.) Peter Kreeft is a prolific and successful writer on philosophical and religious subjects; the back cover of this book informs us that he has published over 25 books and that a number of these are bestsellers. The preface reveals how well-organized and methodical he is. He has [...]
Raising Hell: What Stops Parents from Handing on the Faith to their Children by St. Clair McEvenue (Interim Publishing, $15, 251 pages) Raising Hell. What a catchy title for a book that blames the latest generation for society's problems. St. Clair McEvenue is a graduate from St. Michael's College and worked as an accountant until 1987, at which time he became a [...]
Pop culture's quest for nihilism leads to desensitization and inability to recognize evil Shows About Nothing: Nihilism in popular Culture from The Exorcist to Seinfeld by Thomas S. Hibbs (Spence Publishing, $23.50 paperback, 202 pages) Nihilism has poisoned our culture and perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than in how we choose to entertain ourselves. The emptiness and nothingness of recent Hollywood [...]
Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism, By Paul C. Vitz, Ph.D., (Spence Publishing Co, $24.95 U.S., 174 pages) Should religious beliefs be subject to psychological analysis? Psychology should be irrelevant. Dr. Paul Vitz, a professor of psychology at New York University and at the Institute for Psychological Sciences in Virginia, bases the entire premise of Faith of the Fatherless, the [...]
The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion, and Morality in Crisis By Robert P. George. Forward by John J. DiIulio (ISI Books, $24.95 U.S., 387 pages) In a day and age when the upholders of traditional morality and people of faith are finding it increasingly difficult to gain a hearing in the public square where they are marginalized by the reigning liberal orthodoxy, [...]
The Safer Sex Illusion by Dr. John B. Shea, M.B.B.Ch (Life Ethics Information Centre, $3, 52 pages). In The Safer Sex Illusion, the latest offering from the Life Ethics Information Centre, Dr. John Shea clearly points out the illusion that any kind of contraception is safe and without consequence. In fact, Shea points out that the so called safe-sex campaign has been [...]
On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs: Teaching, Writing, Playing, Believing, Lecturing, Philosophizing, Singing, Dancing by James V. Schall (ISI Books, US $24.95, 189 pages) Most Interim readers are probably familiar with this old saying, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." There is a great deal of truth in this statement. If a person spent every waking moment of [...]
Author indicts feminism, moral decay and multiculturalism for our woes The Death of the West By Patrick J. Buchanan St. Martin's Press, 320 pages, $38.95In a recent issue of National Review, John O'Sullivan argued that successful conservative parties draw upon three constituencies: economic and small-government conservatives, moral traditionalists, and patriotic nationalists. Since multiculturalism and Third World immigration have become sacred cows in [...]
Consumer's Guide to a Brave New World by Wesley Smith (Encounter Books, $38.95 in bookstores or $35.00 through the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, toll free at: 1-877-439-3348, 219 pgs ) Reviewed by Alex Schadenberg The Interim Consumer's Guide to a Brave New World (Brave New World) is Wesley J. Smith's latest book. Smith, a senior fellow with the Discovery Institute and the legal [...]
A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by Mary Ann Glendon (Random House, $38.95, 333 pages) Mary Ann Glendon, a professor of law at Harvard, leader of the Holy See's delegation to the Beijing Women's Conference and usually one of the clearest thinkers on the issue of human rights, has penned a fascinating but ultimately disappointing [...]
Delusions of Grandeur: The United Nations and Global Interventionism, edited by Ted Galen Carpenter (Cato Institute, 1997, $15.95) It would be no exaggeration to say that Canada's elite loves the United Nations. The spirit of Lester B. Pearson is very much alive in the natural governing party, and none of the increasingly irrelevant opposition parties have even suggested Canada should withdraw from [...]
A Student's Guide to the Core Curriculum by Mark C. Henrie ISI Books, $7.95 (US), 109 pages.As the role of the university is being debated in society, so too is the legitimacy of the liberal arts. At one point in our history, a liberal arts education was held in high regard, a mark of distinction that qualified a university graduate for an [...]