Everything old is new again, goes the wise, old tune, and the new September 7, 2020, issue of National Review turns its attention to the ideological wellspring of today’s ideological assaults on civil society. The cover piece is an important and informative essay by John D. Hagen Jr. that revisits Thomas Carlyle’s epic work, The French Revolution, to explore the madness brought about by “The Gospel of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.” Its disastrous consequences continue centuries later, on our shores, which is why you should read the essay.
If you have an NRPLUS subscription, the entire contents of this issue — the Hagen essay and so much more — are available to you right now. No such subscription? Then you will find your access quite limited. But, if you’ve not yet exhausted your monthly free-article allotment, here are a few pieces suggested for your consideration: James Copland’s essay on the intersection of policing and race, Michael Brendan Dougherty’s in-depth analysis of the tenure of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, and David Mamet’s reflection on self-interest and its role in the growth, life, and collapse of major American cities. If you are tempted by a good movie review, there is Ross Douthat’s take on An American Pickle.
This is less a recommendation than it is a random sampling, because the fact is that between its Table of Contents and the back cover, each and every article and review and column, each and every editorial and paragraph in The Week, is meaningful conservative journalism. The entire shebang truly merits your attention. So . . . don’t miss a word of this issue, or of any issue of NR. Subscribe here to NRPLUS and you won’t.