SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

America Unraveled - precarity, solidarity and our long season of crisis (Notre Dame Magazine)

The Left needs a Spiritual Renaissance. So Does America - co-authored with Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) (Daily Beast)

The Loneliest Crowd - on 21st century America, and what humans need from each other (National Affairs)

Chris Murphy Wants To Make America a Little Less Lonely - not by me, but profiling some of our work with Senator Murphy (Vanity Fair)

Americans, Stop Being Ashamed of Weakness - some reflections on stroke patients, self-isolation and the American shame at vulnerability (New York Times)

The Owl of Minerva Trots at Dusk - not actually writing. An appearance on Manifesto, the best podcast around, discussing art, beauty, philosophy, religion, etc.

In Search of Lost Tribes - a personal reflection on belonging in adolescence and adulthood (Plough Quarterly)

Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano - summer 2020 as one in a long series of revolts against modern, urban, industrialized life (Washington Examiner)

Let the coronavirus break up the “Super-Zips” - a modest proposal for thinning out hyper expensive super-zips, and resettling America (Washington Post)

Hyman Bloom and the Art of Dying Well - a great, overlooked artist, and how the fear of our mortality poisons American culture (The American Interest)

How Online Learning Could Leave Kids Even More Distracted Than They Already Are - the freedom of the classroom vs. the tyranny of the internet (New York Post)

The Coronavirus Might Break the Nuclear Family - arguing for a return to multi-generational living (Washington Post)

The Privilege of Logging Off- poor kids spend 8 hours a day on screens. This is very bad (Washington Examiner)

Straight Lasch, Homie - on the revival of interest in Christopher Lasch, and our ongoing political realignment (Washington Examiner)

“Somewhere Else” - on the spiritual roots of the opioid crisis (Commonweal)

“Reading Dangerously” - a review essay about Nietzsche, Heidegger, deplorables, cucks, my childhood and several other things. (Weekly Standard)

“Great Art Survives” - my interview with Dave Brubeck about jazz, religion, etc. (Commonweal)

“A Lament for Lost Children” - an appreciation of Henryk Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (Wall Street Journal)

“Time to Log Off” - a jeremiad against smartphones and social media, which are destroying us. (New Atlantis)

“Prophecies and Prices” - an exploration of why humans value art as highly as they do, and why practically anything can now be “art”. (Weekly Standard)

“A Guide for the Perplexed” - on Britain’s chief Rabbi on why science and religion shouldn’t fight. (Wall Street Journal)

“Poetry of Light” - on the poet Adam Zagajewski, and his eminently humane, balanced, virtuosic inner life (Weekly Standard)

“Donald Trump’s Fixation on Celebrity” - once again, Donald Trump is the American id personified, so stop acting like you’re shocked. (Spectator USA)

“America’s Winners are Spiritually Sick” - on Kanye West, Donald Trump, and our feigned surprise at the trashification of culture. (Spectator USA)

“The Last of His Kind” - on Adam Kirsch on Lionel Trilling. (Wall Street Journal)

“The Obscenity of the Art World” - explaining that the high end art world is dominated by filthy status mongering and money lust.

“The Heavy Eyelids of Lucian Freud” - arguing that the great painter’s work was hamstrung by his metaphysical prudishness. (First Things)

“A Harvard Aristocrat Pulls Curbside Rank” - class is way more important, and pervasive, than Americans care to admit. (Spectator USA)