philosophy
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Both / and
Sabine Rollberg was the perfect interpreter for us in Germany. When we were at the Saturday market next to the 13th century Gothic cathedral in Freiburg, she recommended and ordered “The Big Red One,” translating the name for a popular… Continue reading
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The Liberal Tradition
I found a book titled “The Light of Italy” in a bookrack facing the very piazza where that “Light,” Duke Federico da Montefeltro, had grandly expanded his Palazzo. This was at the height of Montefeltro’s rule before he died in… Continue reading
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Monastic views
A Benedictine monastery with a pagan name, Eremo Monte Giove (Mt. Jove Hermitage), offers a breathtaking perspective on the area around it. After you hike up the steep quiet road from where the bus lets you out at Rosciano, you… Continue reading
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The Five Deadly Virtues
Like her hero Niccolò Machiavelli, Carol Darr delights in turning conventional (and Catholic) wisdom on its head. So in one chapter of her book Machiavelli 4 Everybody, being published next week, she describes five traditional virtues as “deadly” for a… Continue reading
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The Big Bad Prince
The Italian who invented political science, Niccolò Machiavelli, is not much appreciated outside of certain academic types who admire and debate his famous 16th century book “The Prince.” A bookstore I visited yesterday on Fano’s main piazza keeps paperback copies… Continue reading
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Lessons for us today, from Italians
I love old books lining bookshelves. The collection in the North Carolina home of a couple of friends held classics of Machiavelli scholarship. I gently pulled out, like sneaking a square of chocolate fudge, a vellum-bound volume. Carol Darr, the… Continue reading
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Populism vs. ‘Civilization’
Here in Atlanta, around Emory, you hear about a friend or neighbor who got a layoff notice yesterday – no April Fool’s joke – among about 2,400 being cut from the CDC. Researchers who have worked at the agency for… Continue reading
An American journalist heads for Italy to see his country changing from afar. 