Blog 3 Columns

Did Slavery Make America Richer?0
- Economics
- August 22, 2019
In the past few decades, a new subfield of history has emerged: the history of capitalism. The subfield is widely popular in the media as a result of hugely influential books such as those of Sven Beckert and Edward Baptist. These two particular authors tie the “peculiar institution” of slavery in American history to capitalism.
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Can We Have Free-Range Kids While Their Mothers Are Wage Slaves?0
- August 22, 2019
One reads about it too often not to believe there is something in the reports of an epidemic of anxiety and depression among children; tweens and teens mostly, some suicidal. Writing in the New York Times last weekend, mother of two Kim Brooks is the latest to cite the data and lament that “our kids are not
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‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’: Remembering a Culture War That Never Happened 0
- Culture
- August 22, 2019
(WARNING: Spoiler alert) The phrase “Once Upon a Time” generally opens fairy tales, but Quentin Tarantino’s film masterpiece, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” is not the stuff of sweet stories. The phrase refers here to time, not as mythical memory, but as a turning point in the human condition. “Once Upon a Time in
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Why ‘Adult Recess’ Is Becoming a Trend 0
- Culture
- August 21, 2019
You’ve heard of adulting school. It’s where those who grew up in body, but not necessarily in responsibility, go to learn the ropes of changing tires, cooking, and doing laundry. But there’s a flip side to this phenomenon. Apparently, many adults have a craving to be a kid again. Enter “adult recess.” “Adults are reliving
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These Hongkongers Are Not ‘a Few Violent Thugs’0
- International
- August 21, 2019
One major reason why the Hong Kong protests have been so successful at capturing international attention is because they are having a huge impact on the tiny island nation’s thriving economy – whether through 11 weeks of massive street demonstrations, the sit-ins at the main airport, or widespread worker strikes throughout the city. What this shows,
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Retooling Pronouns: Let’s Bring Back the Royal ‘We’0
- Culture
- August 21, 2019
Queen Victoria, so the story goes, sometimes resorted to the royal “we.” “We are not amused,” she might remark – one assumes with a sniff – at some slightly off-color story or inopportune remark. But whom did the queen intend by “we?” The spirit of Prince Albert? Other members of the court? The entire British
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Dilemmas of the 21st-Century American Parent 0
- Culture
- August 21, 2019
Standing in the breeze on a warm spring day at the end of another school year, I listen as a pre-Kindergarten child receives a prize at the elementary school’s yearly awards ceremony. Inwardly, I cringe as I hear “ . . . and she wants to be a YouTuber when she grows up.” My attention
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Advice for Presidential Candidates From Bastiat 0
- Economics
- August 21, 2019
Whether conjured up by something I ate before bedtime, or by the cheesy horror flick I watched a few nights before, or by something else, I just don’t know – but I tossed and turned through one of the most vivid dreams last weekend that I’ve ever experienced. The Dream I was in a classroom
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What the Tiny House Movement and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Have in Common 1
- August 20, 2019
When Thomas Jefferson originally moved into the South Pavilion of his Monticello estate in 1770, it was little more than an incomplete two-bedroom brick building and a cleared mountaintop. Over the course of the next 38 years, the author of the Declaration of Independence would personally design and oversee the construction of his “essay in
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Did Slavery Make America Richer?0