The Wise Men Know What Wicked Things Are Written on the Sky

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Russell Kirk was one of the most brilliant conservative thinkers of the 20th century. This book -- a collection of lectures given between 1982 and 1984 -- provides an excellent introduction to his thought. The topic of the lectures is: "Is the American Republic descending into decadence, or are the American people entering upon a renewal of belief and hope."

Kirk's analysis is as accurate now as it was then. For example, in writing about US foreign policy and "human rights," his insights are just as applicable today to US meddling in other countries, such as the foolish war against Serbia. Or, his case against the use of computers in education is all the more valuable when getting the internet into every class is proclaimed a national policy. I particularly liked the story of how he threw the TV in the trash when he found his family watching it.

But this book isn't just grumbling about the state of American culture. It is a deep reflection on what Kirk considered America's mission: "to reconcile the claims of order and the claims of freedom: to maintain in an age of ferocious ideologies and fantastic schemes a model of justice."

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Russell Kirk was one of the most brilliant conservative thinkers of the 20th century. This book -- a collection of lectures given between 1982 and 1984 -- provides an excellent introduction to his thought. The topic of the lectures is: "Is the American Republic descending into decadence, or are the American people entering upon a renewal of belief and hope."

Kirk's analysis is as accurate now as it was then. For example, in writing about US foreign policy and "human rights," his insights are just as applicable today to US meddling in other countries, such as the foolish war against Serbia. Or, his case against the use of computers in education is all the more valuable when getting the internet into every class is proclaimed a national policy. I particularly liked the story of how he threw the TV in the trash when he found his family watching it.

But this book isn't just grumbling about the state of American culture. It is a deep reflection on what Kirk considered America's mission: "to reconcile the claims of order and the claims of freedom: to maintain in an age of ferocious ideologies and fantastic schemes a model of justice."