For about a year, in the period 1966-67, I lived in Spain while it was still under the Franco dictatorship. I arrived in August 1966 and enrolled in the University of Madrid. The falangista (extreme right wing) government had been in power for 30 years, and were celebrating the anniversary under the slogan “treinta anos
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Since the tragic murder of 59 peaceful concertgoers in Las Vegas, I’ve heard well-intentioned Americans from all political corners echoing heartbroken and tempting refrains: Can’t we just ban guns? Surely we can all get together on the rocket launchers. Things like this would happen less often. We have enough military. While victims were still in
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Jacques Barzun (1907-2012) was one of the preeminent historians of his day. His magnum opus, From Dawn to Decadence, traces the history of Western culture from 1500 to 2000. The book is required reading for anyone serious about understanding Western history, thought, and culture. It’s been more than a decade since I read From Dawn
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“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” When Tolkien wrote these words, which would become one of the most famous and most memorable opening sentences in all of literature, he could not have known what literary power would be unleashed by his creation of the diminutive hole-dwelling creature, Bilbo Baggins. This year,
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We don’t have royalty in America. All we have is celebrities. And at the top of the celebrity hierarchy is the rock star. So lofty a station do rock stars occupy in the celebrity firmament, that movie stars, presidents, and even real royalty must pay them obeisance. And of course we all know how the
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President Donald Trump is prepared to sign a late-term abortion ban, which the House passed Tuesday evening, if the Senate follows suit. A statement from the White House said the proposed law would promote a “culture of life.” Proponents say the measure, prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, would restrict the procedure at the
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