Review of Die Welle (The Wave), Directed by Dennis Gansel By KENDRICK KUO Is a resurgence of fascism possible? Die Welle answers yes. This German film is based on a 1967 social experiment in a Californian high school that sought to recreate a fascist society in a world history class. “Die Welle” means “The Wave” and is the name of the student group formed in the experiment. (In the actual experiment, the group was named “The Third Wave”.) In Die... Read more
Review of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt By PAUL D. MILLER On one level, The Swerve is the biography of a minor figure in Renaissance Florence (Poggio Bracciolini) and an entertaining story of how he recovered a lost work of Roman poetry (Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things). This part of The Swerve is well-written and –researched and surprisingly gripping. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the technology of reading—papyrus versus vellum, scroll versus codex, and so... Read more
Review of The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun By KENDRICK KUO Outside of world literature connoisseurs and scholars, Lu Xun (1881-1936) is not well known to the West. Writing in the early twentieth century, Lu Xun is considered one of the founders of modern Chinese literature. The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun is a Penguin-published compilation of his short stories... Read more
A Review of the Twilight franchise by Stephenie Meyer By JENNILEE MILLER I think the term typically used to describe someone like me is “Twi-Mom.” Yes: I am a mom who loves the Twilight franchise. Of course, I think the term originally referred to a mom who picked up her daughter’s glossy paperbacks with the shiny red apple on the cover and somehow got hooked on the impossible love story of Bella and Edward. I got hooked before I had... Read more
Review of The Wonderful O by James Thurber By COYLE NEAL An important introductory disclaimer: if you haven’t already read The Wonderful O, stop reading this review now. Nothing I have to say will be anywhere near as interesting as what Thurber has written. Which also stands as a good general rule: if you have to choose between reading Thurber and most other things, go with Thurber. A band of thugs have taken over the island of Ooroo. These, however,... Read more
Review of Love in the Ruins by Walker Percy By COYLE NEAL In Walker Percy’s Love in the Ruins, society has begun to slide towards the logical conclusions of the 1960s. In the moral wasteland that America has become, Dr. Thomas More has invented “More’s Qualitative Quantitative Ontological Lapsometer”—a machine that measures and corrects the problems of the soul. (More’s name is not a coincidence—we are repeatedly told that he is a descendent of the murderous Catholic martyr.) Will More... Read more
Review of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn By KENDRICK KUO Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996) was a specialist in the history of science and held a professorship at the Massachussets Institute of Technology. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions remains his most famous work, which outlined his theory of paradigm shifts. The common view of scientific progress is a gradual growth of knowledge through new discoveries. In contrast, Kuhn argues that the scientific endeavor evolves through paradigm changes. Kuhn’s... Read more
A Review of Lost in the Middle by Paul David Tripp Reviewed by PAUL D. MILLER “Life is hard, and then you die—blessed be the name of the Lord.” That, in short, is the message of Paul David Tripp’s wrenching book Lost in the Middle (2004). I hated this book because of how deeply convicted I was of sin, selfishness, and idolatry on every single page. I strongly recommend it to everyone. Tripp is a biblical counselor—that is, a counselor... Read more
Review of The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus by Adam C. English By ALEXIS NEAL My idea of Santa Claus is based on an amalgamation of Disney specials, Norman Rockwell paintings, and the famous poem by Clement Clarke Moore. I know what every kid knows—that Santa looks vaguely like Edmund Gwenn. But I didn’t know a blessed thing about who he was before he was Santa Claus. Fortunately, Adam C. English was aware of my plight (shared by many Americans),... Read more
Review of Multiply by Francis Chan and Mark Beuving By COYLE NEAL Francis Chan can be a bit of a, well, unique individual, and that’s why I like him. He’s unique in a way that reminds us of things that have been forgotten, but without sacrificing solid theology. His latest book Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples (co-authored with Mark Beuving) is yet another book in this line—he takes a relatively obscure term like ‘discipling’ and shows us where it fits into... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In