Drawn With the Sword, by James McPherson

New Slavery for Old

Mises Review 4, No. 1 (Spring 1998)

DRAWN WITH THE SWORD
James M. McPherson
Oxford University Press, 1996, xiv+258 pgs.
 

As usual, let us begin with a paradox. James McPherson, a leading historian of the Civil War, ardently supports the Union cause and views Abraham Lincoln as an outstanding champion of “positive liberalism” (p. 183). Yet M.E. Bradford, in recent years the foremost advocate of Southern traditional conservatism, thought highly of McPherson and his work. Can such things be?

Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air, by Francis Beckwith and Gregory Koukl

The Tropes of Truth

Mises Review 4, No. 4 (Winter 1998)

RELATIVISM: FEET FIRMLY PLANTED IN MID-AIR
Francis J. Beckwith and Gregory Koukl
Baker Books, 1998, 189 pgs.
 

Part of the fun of studying philosophy is that it is a very difficult, technical subject. If you know the meaning of “rigid designator,” the “inscrutability of reference,” and the “private-language argument,” you can gloat in your presumed superiority to those who have no inkling of the complexities these phrases suggest.

The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives, by Zbigniew Brzezinski

The Hegemonic Imperative

Mises Review 4, No. 4 (Winter 1998)

THE GRAND CHESSBOARD: AMERICAN PRIMACY AND ITS GEOSTRATEGIC IMPERATIVES
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Basic Books, 1997, xiv + 223 pgs.
 

Professor Brzezinski displays in this book an inordinate fondness for intellectual games. A minor and forgivable weakness, you might think. But unfortunately the games our author proposes to play put at risk the lives of millions of Americans.