Fate of the West
Where Western civilization is headed. History, demography, culture and power, with serious attention to both decline and renewal.
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This reading list brings together items from the sources selected for Fate of the West. Open each item at its original source for the complete article, episode or video. This is a selection of current coverage, not a complete archive.
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Foucault’s Idol of Nothingness
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Michel Foucault. He was influential in his lifetime, but forty-two years after his death, while contemporaries such as Derrida have
Why the Death Penalty Is a Sore Point for Papal Authority
Pope Leo XIV marked World Day Against the Death Penalty, observed on October 10, with the following message on X: The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an
Candace Owens and the Sin of Anti-Semitism
According to the online Encyclopedia Britannica, Sir Moses Montefiore (1784–1885) was “an Italian-born businessman who was noted for his philanthropy and support of Jewish rights.” In the England to which he was brought
How Sweden’s Immigrant Vote Toppled the Right
For decades, Sweden had perhaps the most open immigration policy and the strongest commitment to tolerance and multiculturalism in the West. That changed in 2015, when the Sweden Democrats
The Last Statesmen?
In the latest installment of the ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein, Steven B. Smith joins in to discuss his book, On Statesmanship. The conversation is embedded
The Zone of Commitment
Neal climbs up to join me at the belay. Moving quickly, he kicks the front points of his crampons into the gray alpine ice and swings one of his ice axes like a framing hammer
A Muslim Answer to Muslim Immigration
Modern America worships at the altar of youth and eagerly tracks in polls and market research its latest and lightest velleities. Our present preoccupation with youth, of course, stands
Job and Her
It is said that Job lost everything, but she has lost more. All her possessions—the money, the house, the clothes—they still exist, but she no longer regards them as
Smashing the Images
As the postwar era draws to an end, some Christians continue to reach for analogies to the 1930s. Social decay recalls Weimar; populist political movements and demagogues are 1933 all over again
Meet the Post-Religious Right
There have been many books written about the online right and the Trump movement, most by people who are, to put it mildly, critical of them. This book is different.
Forget Odysseus. Aeneas Is the True American Hero
Who is our Odysseus? Or more precisely, who is the most Odyssean hero of American film? Matt Damon’s mopey trauma patient? Certainly not.... The post Forget Odysseus. Aeneas Is the True American Hero. appeared first on First Things.
A Culture of Parricide
I learned a new word the other day: déploration. It’s the French, directly from the Latin, for “lament.” But as a term for a specific musical genre, it was novel
New Founders Wanted
It’s now 250 years since America declared her independence and embarked on the experiment of fashioning a nation dedicated to liberty. Do those long-ago events and the deliberations of
The Chariot Burials
Wheeling through the clotted earth, Bronze, bone, and leather clumped in clay, We rolled below the world’s new birth While all the old was burned away. We thundered through our barrows Beneath the deepening harrows Until the plow dragged in the light of day. Then came the scholar’s brush for bone, With pick and trowel to nip around. We had been better left alone Than raised beneath this scratching sound.
De Gaulle Triumphant
The Second World War left Europe invaded and ruined, divided between Soviet and American occupations. Hitler’s defeat represented a “triumph and tragedy”—the title Winston Churchill took for the final
Algorithm, Interface, and AI
Many conversations about artificial intelligence end in a stalemate: A sentiment like “ChatGPT is awful because kids are using it as a therapist” runs up against “But it can
The Cold Beauty of Jan Morris
Jan Morris (1926–2020) was a writer of astounding gifts who not only recorded history but made it. First, as the young reporter James Morris, he joined the successful 1953 British
Cornell’s Secret History
The editors discuss the NatCon in Jerusalem, the scandal at Cornell University and its broader implications, and whether AI could ever be considered to be conscious. Further reading: 2026 Erasmus Lecture tickets. Rape and Modern Sex War, by Camille Paglia “The Great Feminization Comes to Cornell,” by Helen Andrews (Compact) “Number of teens who identify themselves as gay or bisexual is in ‘free fall’,” by Casey Park (Washington Post) “Anthropic bans ‘abusive or cruel behavior’ toward Claude,” by Hayden Field (The Verge)
Armenia’s Unbroken Courage
In mid-September, I joined a lunch with the leaders of a village in Syunik, southern Armenia. The president of neighboring Azerbaijan has been threatening for several years to “return”
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