A Brit Tries to Explain America The Cracked Bell: America and the Afflictions of Liberty, by Tristram Riley-Smith, Skyhorse Publishing, 2010. $26.95, 337 pp. The British civil servant Tristram Riley-Smith selects a peculiar frame through which to explore American religion: Halloween. His ambitious project, an anthropological account of America’s “descent,” begins with a lengthy discussion … Read more
Eastwood does Mandela It is not hard to imagine a three-hour-plus biopic covering the trials and triumphs of Nelson Mandela. A life as epic as Mandela’s naturally lends itself to a lofty cinematic portrayal along the lines of a Gandhi or an Elizabeth. But to tell the complete story of a person on film entails … Read more
George Friedman’s geopolitical prophecy The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century is a book that admits it will not get everything right. The author George Friedman, founder of the private intelligence firm STRATFOR, takes up the prophet’s mantle and tells us what the 21st century might look like. His contentions seem, at … Read more