With Both Hands

Sign in Subscribe

The Long View

The Long View 2003-07-01: The Crisis Builds

In his book review on William Strauss and Neil Howe's The Fourth Turning, John noted that the generational model of that book predicted a crisis in America in about 2005 that would usher in two decades of chaos. We certainly seem to have gotten the chaos. Strauss and

The Long View 2003-06-27: Terminal Decisions

I am definitely not an expert in Constitutional Law, but I do like the idea John floats here that in a democratic system like ours, the People ought to be able to do any damn fool thing they please that isn't specifically prohibited by the Constitution. Terminal Decisions

The Long View: The Perfection of the West

The Perfection of the West is one of John's self-published books, an anthology of the writings on his blog. It is an attempt to build a thematic whole out of his writings, and I think he succeeds. You can still order the book from xlibris. I've

The Long View: The Glass Bead Game

I don't think this counts as a prediction, but there is an interesting parallel to subsequent events. John says: “The Glass Bead Game” is about the education and career of one Joseph Knecht, whose surname means “serf” or “servant.” He rises through the elite schools of his society

The Long View: The Seafort Saga

I read David Feintuch's Seafort Saga because John reviewed the first five books in the series in 1996. I stopped after the fourth, even though two more books had been released since the time John reviewed them. I actually did this on John's advice, since Feintuch

The Long View: At the End of an Age

This book review of John Reilly's is the source of one of my favorite quotes: How do we know that the 500 or so years of the Modern Age are at last drawing to a close? Lukacs's answer to this, and it's a good

The Long View: The Coming Caesars

Riencourt's book makes the argument that America is literally the second coming of Rome. In this, he follows the views of many of the American founders. I stumbled on this idea when I was reading about Cincinnatus, the Roman who was twice elected dictator, and twice resigned his