Reviews and News:
Tolkien’s Jews: “The dwarves of Middle Earth, the central characters of one of the most beloved books of all time, are indeed based on the Jews. This was confirmed by Tolkien himself in a 1971 interview on the BBC: ‘The dwarves of course are quite obviously, [sic] couldn’t you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews?’ he asked. ‘Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic.’ Similarly, in a letter to his daughter, Tolkien reflected, ‘I do think of the ‘Dwarves’ like Jews: at once native and alien in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue.’ To someone like me, who grew up loving The Hobbit, the discovery that Tolkien had based his dwarves on Jews was startling—and the cause of some concern.”
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In defense of Herbert Hoover.
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The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership may make it illegal for American cheese makers “to use common names rooted in regional European culinary traditions like feta, muenster, or parmesan” for their cheeses. “This provision is just the latest in a long crusade by traditional European cheese makers against the willy-nilly usage of their region’s dairy terms by foreigners. In the early 20th century, some European states blocked the importation of foreign products using their names, hoping to protect the integrity of their culinary heritage.”
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What is “scholarly value” exactly?
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The virtues of reality: “Since the 1990s, we’ve seen two broad social changes that few observers would have expected to happen together. First, youth culture has become less violent, less promiscuous and more responsible. American childhood is safer than ever before. Teenagers drink and smoke less than previous generations. The millennial generation has fewer sexual partners than its parents, and the teen birthrate has traced a two-decade decline. Violent crime — a young person’s temptation — fell for 25 years before the recent post-Ferguson homicide spike. Young people are half as likely to have been in a fight than a generation ago. Teen suicides, binge drinking, hard drug use — all are down. But over the same period, adulthood has become less responsible, less obviously adult. For the first time in over a century, more 20-somethings live with their parents than in any other arrangement. The marriage rate is way down, and despite a high out-of-wedlock birthrate American fertility just hit an all-time low. More and more prime-age workers are dropping out of the work force — men especially, and younger men more so than older men, though female work force participation has dipped as well. You can tell different stories that synthesize these trends: strictly economic ones about the impact of the Great Recession, critical ones about the infantilizing effects of helicopter parenting, upbeat ones about how young people are forging new life paths. But I want to advance a technology-driven hypothesis: This mix of youthful safety and adult immaturity may be a feature of life in a society increasingly shaped by the internet’s virtual realities.”
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D. G. Hart reviews John Fea’s history of the American Bible Society.
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Essay of the Day:
The City Journal‘s associate editor, Matthew Hennessey, writes about how Alice McDermott’s Charming Billy changed his life:
“I don’t read much fiction. I’m a periodicals man, mostly. I’ve been let down too many times—especially by modern writers—to take a chance on a novel, even one that comes recommended by a friend or critic whose opinion I trust. If the fiction itch flares, I’d rather scratch it by dipping back into something I’ve already read. I picked up Alice McDermott’s Charming Billy again after all these years because I was in the mood for something good, and I knew it would be good, because it was good the first time I read it—and the second.
“Brooklyn-born McDermott published Charming Billy in 1998. Readers and reviewers were captivated by its note-perfect rendering of a New York Irish-American clan dealing with the not-entirely unexpected death of the alcoholic and adored Billy Lynch. (It won the National Book Award.) Every Irish family has an uncle or a cousin or a brother or a son like Billy. He’s fond of a story, knows a bit of poetry, and rarely looks askance at the offer of a drink. He’s a stereotype, but only in the sense that everyone is a stereotype.
“In 1998, I was a stereotype myself: I’d made a losing bet on a Hollywood career. My five years in Los Angeles were spent trying to convince the film industry that I wasn’t, in fact, a well-adjusted, All-American boy from an intact family. No, I wanted producers, directors, and casting agents to see me as an edgy young man, so I grew my hair long, got a tattoo, tied flannel shirts around my waist, and tromped around sunny Southern California in giant black Doc Marten boots. The act didn’t sell, and I returned home to New Jersey with my proverbial tail between my legs. I was about to turn 25. I’d done one semester of college and never held a real job. I was casting about for something firm upon which to anchor my stunted sense of self
“Charming Billy did the trick…”
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Image of the Day: Yosemite
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Poem: Jean L. Kreiling, “Waiting for the Return of the Fishing Fleet”
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