The Bookshelf

For this year’s historic celebration of American nationhood, the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin has brought its own fireworks. The Civitas Collection 250 (Civitas Press, 214 pp., $30), edited by Richard M. Reinsch II, comprises 25 brisk essays on American history and political thought by such authors as C. Bradley Thompson (America’s Revolutionary Mind), Wilfred McClay (Land of Hope), Samuel Gregg (The Essential Natural Law), and John Yoo (The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court). A pyrotechnic show of scholarship.

The collection compresses the density of several textbooks — some entries’ endnotes could serve as indices to adjacent literature — into a stylish paperback fit for study as well as coffee-table display. It’s cultured and cerebral and compact. Justin Dyer’s opener is adapted from the introduction to his American Soul (2011), itself an anthology related to the Declaration of Independence. . . . Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.

About the Author

Vahaken Mouradian

Vahaken Mouradian is the literary editor of National Review.

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For this year’s historic celebration of American nationhood, the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin has brought its own fireworks. The Civitas Collection 250 (Civitas Press, 214 pp., $30), edited by Richard M. Reinsch II, comprises 25 brisk essays on American history and political thought by such authors as C. Bradley Thompson (America’s Revolutionary Mind), Wilfred McClay (Land of Hope), Samuel Gregg (The Essential Natural Law), and John Yoo (The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court). A pyrotechnic show of scholarship.

The collection compresses the density of several textbooks — some entries’ endnotes could serve as indices to adjacent literature — into a stylish paperback fit for study as well as coffee-table display. It’s cultured and cerebral and compact. Justin Dyer’s opener is adapted from the introduction to his American Soul (2011), itself an anthology related to the Declaration of Independence. . . . Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.