VOLUME XVI, NUMBER 3, SUMMER 2016 A Journal of Political Thought and Statesmanship Michael Knox Richard Beran: Samuelson: Brexit and Hamilton All at on Broadway Patrick J. Garrity: David P. Henry Goldman: Kissinger Flailing Abroad Linda Bridges: e Comma Mark Queen Bauerlein: Queer eory Cheryl Miller: Jonathan Douglas Franzen Kries: Augustine’s Joseph Confessions Epstein: Isaiah Richard Berlin Talbert & Timothy W. Caspar: SPQR A Publication of the Claremont Institute PRICE: $6.95 IN CANADA: $8.95 Wealth, Poverty and Politics is a new approach to understanding age-old issues about economic disparities among nations and within nations. These disparities are examined in the light of history, economics, geography, demography and culture. Wealth, Poverty and Politics is also a challenge to much that is being said today about income distribution and wealth concentration— a challenge to the underlying assumptions and to the ambiguous words and misleading statistics in which those assumptions are embedded, often even by leading economists. This includes statistics about the much-discussed “top one percent.” This revised and enlarged edition should be especially valuable to those who teach, and who want to confront their students with more than one way of looking at issues that are too important to be settled by whatever the prevailing orthodoxy happens to be. A true gem in terms of exposing the demagoguery and sheer ignorance of politicians and intellectuals in their claims about wealth and poverty . Dr. Sowell’s new book tosses a monkey wrench into most of the things said about income by politicians, intellectuals and assorted hustlers, plus it’s a fun read. (Professor Walter E. Williams, George Mason University) At a time when many politicians, academics and media commentators are focusing on income inequality, Thomas Sowell’s Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective offers a refreshing and stimulating view. (Professor John B. Taylor, Stanford University) Sowell... draws from this well of research to do what he has done so well for so long: question basic assumptions behind public policy and follow the facts where they lead him. (Jason Riley, Wall Street Journal) It’s a scandal that economist Thomas Sowell has not been awarded the Nobel Prize. No one alive has turned out so many insightful, richly researched books. His latest is another triumph of crackling observations that underscore the ignorance of our economists and policy- makers. His take on how culture, geography, politics and social factors affect how societies progress— or don’t— will rile those addicted to political correctness but leave everyone else wiser. (Steve Forbes, Forbes magazine) FOR COMPLIMENTARY EXAMINATION COPIES OR DESK COPIES, PLEASE CONTACT perseusacademic.com. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK Charles R. Kesler: Change-Makers: page 5 CORRESPONDENCE: page 6 ESSAYS William Voegeli: Trump and His Enemies: page 10 Richard Samuelson: Hamilton versus History: page 64 Sometimes, worthy causes have unworthy champions. What the hit musical gets right—and wrong. Mark Bauerlein: Queer to Stay: page 37 Joseph Epstein: A Thinker, I Suppose: page 75 A theory’s improbable triumph in the academy. Does Isaiah Berlin still matter? REVIEWS OF BOOKS Brian Callanan: Justice League International: page 18 Mary Lefkowitz: Ancient Authors: page 48 The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities, Classical Literature: An Epic Journey from Homer to Virgil and by Stephen Breyer. Beyond, by Richard Jenkyns. Joseph M. Bessette: All Lives Matter: page 22 Douglas Kries: Sinner, Scholar, Saint: page 50 The Rise and Fall of Violent Crime in America, by Barry Latzer; and Augustine: Conversions to Confessions, by Robin Lane Fox. The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe, by Heather Mac Donald. Edward Feser: A Mere—Brilliant—Sophist: page 52 Hume: An Intellectual Biography, by James A. Harris. David P. Goldman: The Case for Benign Neglect:page 25 Mission Failure: America and the World in the Post-Cold War Era, Eva Brann: Novelist and Calvinist: page 55 by Michael Mandelbaum. The Givenness of Things: Essays, by Marilynne Robinson. Patrick J. Garrity: Regarding Henry: page 28 Michael Knox Beran: Brexit and All That:page 58 Kissinger, 1923–1968: The Idealist, by Niall Ferguson. The English and Their History, by Robert Tombs. Joshua Dunn: Cash for Flunkers: page 35 Darren Staloff: Founding Scribblers: page 61 The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?, by Dale Russakoff. The American Revolution: Writings from the Pamphlet Debate: 1764–1776, edited by Gordon S. Wood. Richard Talbert: Bestriding the World: page 42 SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard. Rafael Major: It Was a Very Good Year: page 70 The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, by James Shapiro. Timothy W. Caspar: The Cicero Test:page 45 Rome's Revolution: Death of the Republic and Birth of the Empire, Cheryl Miller: Rage Against the Machine: page 72 by Richard Alston; and The Death of Caesar: The Story of History’s Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen; and Purity, Most Famous Assassination, by Barry Strauss. by Jonathan Franzen. Linda Bridges: Adventures among the Apostrophes: page 82 Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, by Mary Norris. SHADOW PLAY Martha Bayles: The Americans—A Fan’s Notes: page 84 Truth, lies, and TV spies. PARTHIAN SHOT Mark Helprin: Taking Terrorism Seriously: page 90 Claremont Review of Books w Summer 2016 Page 3 H C VAN ANDEL GRADUATE SCHOOL OF STATESMANSHIP M.A. POLITICS Ph.D. POLITICS A F P A G E P P A P THE FACULTY Larry P. Arnn · Adam Carrington · Mickey Craig · John W. Grant Matthew Mendham · Ronald J. Pestritto · Kevin Portteus · Paul A. Rahe Kevin Slack · Thomas G. West B W A T O ering Competitive Scholarships and Fellowship Stipends For more information or to apply: gradschool.hillsdale.edu | [email protected] | (517) 607-2483 HC_GradSchool_CRB_7-16.indd 1 7/25/16 8:36 AM mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm from the editor’s desk Change-Makers by Charles R. Kesler ow that the democratic national convention is So he settled for telling us about 45 years with “the best darn over, we can look forward, not necessarily in every sense of change-maker I have ever met in my entire life,” “the best mother in Nthat term, to the campaign. The major Democrats have pre- the whole world,” the woman “who has never been satisfied with the viewed their arguments for the fall, and we can at least steel ourselves status quo in anything.” Despite constantly studying the issues, fil- for the upcoming exchanges. ing government reports, “always making things better,” Hillary, he For President Obama, the stakes are clear. As he told Politico re- admitted, can come off as earnest, “boring,” and, worse, an agent of cently, he wants his legacy to include “a 16-year era of progressive the status quo. Bill took pains to deny the last point, at least. The rule” that would upend the Reagan Revolution and fulfill his prom- Democrats face a tough question: if he can’t sell her, who can? ise in 2008 to transform the country “fundamentally.” Obama’s own achievement, in other words, depends on eight years of a Hillary illary tried, but one thing this change-maker Clinton Administration, its agenda shoved further left by Bernie can’t change is herself. She brought up It Takes a Village, Sanders’s “political revolution.” Whether Obama likes it or not, if Hher 20-year-old book, and tried to explain it again in her ac- Change doesn’t continue, Hope will die, above all his hope of being ceptance speech. Her stumbling block remains the same: Americans the progressive Reagan. don’t live in villages. She has friends in Greenwich Village, no doubt, In Philadelphia, therefore, he did his best to transfer his man- but Americans live in small towns, suburbs, cities, but everywhere, date to Hillary, always understanding that a charisma transfer was until recently at least, in families. Her book confuses government impossible. He hugged her long enough that images of Al Gore and with civil society in ways that invite the expansion of government Tipper in 2000 came to mind, or was that Michael hugging Fredo into civil society—administering the affairs of families, churches, in The Godfather? Though Michelle and Barack were on their best schools, and every other civil association. behavior, the rivalry between the Obama and Clinton families is not Hillary’s latest formulation of this bad idea is “Stronger Together,” so easily buried, as his icy praise of Hillary showed. “She’s been there the theme of her speech and her campaign. Beyond its obvious value for us [Americans],” he explained, “even if we haven’t always noticed.” as a truism, her slogan raises the question why, for what purposes, do At his warmest, Obama still held something back. He declared, we want to be stronger together? So that we don’t have to “fear the fu- “there has never been a man or a woman more qualified than Hill- ture and fear each other,” she answered, which makes the Trumpian ary Clinton to serve as President of the United States….” The state- alternative sound like a return to the dystopia that Thomas Hobbes ment’s over-the-top absurdity (James Madison, phone home) left one called the state of nature. But she was only getting started. Ameri- waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting to hear “and yet qualifica- cans need to unify, she went on, so that we can achieve the full bene- tions are no guarantee….” fits of modern liberalism, from expanded welfare (including federally Bill Clinton was nicer, but his rambling story of Life with Hill paid funded abortions) to new restrictions on “mean and divisive” political tribute both to her and to the minefields in their long marriage.