As I See It by Michael Coren (Freedom Press, $21.95 paperback, 306 pages) When I went to university in the United States, I stopped following Canadian news, but I did continue reading a few Canadian columnists on the internet. One of those columnists was Michael Coren. There are many reasons why I should not have read him. He supports more government intervention than I, an economist, would like. He has what ... (Continue reading)
Fearful Symmetry: The Fall and Rise of Canada’s Founding Values by Brian Lee Crowley (Key Porter, $34.95, 360 pages) In an important new book, Fearful Symmetry: The Fall and Rise of Canada’s Founding Values, Brian Lee Crowley persuasively argues that the future prosperity of Canada depends on a revival of marriage and the family. For Crowley, this is a new understanding. Until last year, he was living in a casual, common-law relationship. ... (Continue reading)
Harley Price reviews William Gairdners’ recent works, which seek to defend universals in a relativistic age. (Continue reading)
Editor's Note: On Sept. 22, Interim Publishing released The Tyranny of Nice: How Canada Crushes Freedom in the Name of Human Rights (and Why It Matters to Americans) as an e-book (electronic book) and two weeks later as a paperback (see advertisement on page 7). Internationally reknowned columnist Mark Steyn wrote the introduction. Interim editor Paul Tuns interviewed the ... (Continue reading)
Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again by David Frum (Doubleday, $29.95, 224 pages) David Frum, the Canadian speechwriter to George Bush during his first term, gained international notoriety as the originator of the phrase, “Axis of Evil.” Prior to that, he was known primarily as a journalist and writer, in particular ... (Continue reading)
Nation of Bastards: Essays on the End of Marriage by Douglas Farrow (BPS Books, $15.95, 116 pages) In one of the more haunting passages in Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville writes: “Thus, not only does democracy make each man forget his ancestors, but it hides ... (Continue reading)
Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming by Bjorn Lomborg (Knopf, $27, 253 pages) Bjorn Lomborg is a professor at the Copenhagen Business School and initiator of the Copenhagen Consensus (a think tank that tackles world problems), but is probably best known as the skeptical environmentalist. In his most recent ... (Continue reading)
Darwin Day in America; How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science by John G. West (ISI Books, $26.95, 450 pages) The success of modern science in providing us with all sorts of material goods, medical wonders and solutions for an array of societal problems has granted it well-deserved respect in the minds of ... (Continue reading)
Out From Under: The Impact of Homosexual Parenting by Dawn Stefanowicz (Annotation Press, $14.95, 245 pages) It was while I was reading Dawn Stefanowicz’s new book that I came upon a review in the Toronto Sunby critic Jim Slotek of the recent movie, For theBible Tells Me So that was headlined, “A serious ... (Continue reading)
Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America: An Evangelical’s Lament by Randall Balmer (Basic Books, $19.50, 242 pp.) In 1925, Dayton’s town fathers saw an opportunity to bring national attention to their little burg in east Tennessee. They met with John Scopes, a supply teacher, to obtain his co-operation in challenging the ... (Continue reading)
The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On by Dawn Eden (W Publishing Group, $17.50, 224 pages) Dawn Eden, “a Jewish-born rock journalist turned salty Christian blog queen,” has written “a book for marriage-minded single women who (have) had enough of the Sex and the City lifestyle.” While giving up her promiscuity ... (Continue reading)
Sacrificed? Truth or Politics by Larry D. Spencer (Kayteebella Productions, $17.99, 172 pages) Truth and politics – are they mutually exclusive? After reading Larry Spencer’s new book Sacrificed? Truth or Politics, the answer, unfortunately, seems to be yes. And that’s the main reason every concerned Canadian should read this well-written volume.... (Continue reading)
William Brennan, 1995, Loyola University Press, 3441 North Ashland Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60657 William Brennan’s book Dehumanizing the Vulnerable compares the language used against seven of the most victimized groups in the modern age. These are unborn, Native Americans, African Americans, European Jews, women, enemies of socialism in Soviet Russia, and those who rely on others physically and mentally. The similarity in oppressive language used against each of these is quite remarkable, and quite frightening. The scale of injustice and violent persecution suffered by ... (Continue reading)
Edited by Ian Gentles Stoddart Publishing, 1995. 131 pages, $18.95 Reviewed by Sue Careless You are a high-profile, public advocate against euthanasia, but in your private life your own father, dying of bowel, stomach and liver cancer, begs you to assist him in suicide. What do you do? Ian Gentles, the editor of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: The Current Debate recounts how, for him, euthanasia hit home. It is one of the most moving passages in a fine book. We who take public stands on ... (Continue reading)
When Life and Choice Collide Essays on Rhetoric and Abortion, Vol. 1 To Set The Dawn Free, Reviewed by David Beresford Cardinal Newman once said in one of his sermons, “Half the controversies in the world are verbal ones: and could they be brought to a plain issue, they would be brought to a prompt termination.” Oxford Sermons, Epiphany, 1839. The book When Life and Choice Collide is a collection of essays that examines the verbal controversies surrounding abortion. It is an extremely helpful book ... (Continue reading)