The Russell Kirk Center

Luke C. Sheahan sat down with editor, David G. Bonagura, Jr.to discuss the expansive publications and writings from Gerald Russello to honor his work and legacy. The two discuss Russello's upbringing in Brooklyn, NY and his respect for Kirk that eventually would lead him to the role of editor at The University Bookman, emphasizing through his time there the importance of understanding human dignity and the moral imagination. "Gerald’s introduction to Kirk was reading The Conservative Mind as a university student in preparation for launching a conservative newspaper on campus. He later called Kirk’s work 'a revelation.'" Read the interview here: https://buff.ly/40QKk8t

In just two weeks on 12/5, we'll gather in Grand Rapids, Michigan to honor the first winners of the McLellan Prizes for Advancing Free Speech & Expression: grand prize winner Greg Lukianoff of @foundation-for-individual-rights-and-expression, and academic award winners, Sam Goldman and Josiah Joner. Make plans to join us at the historic Amway Grand Plaza hotel on Thursday, December 5, here: https://buff.ly/3UjLRzJ

"In an analogy repeated several times here, the carrot, with its monocolor and subtle taste, is no match for the candy bar." This is just one of the analogies that Gerald J. Russello uses in his review of "Packaged Pleasures. How Technology and Marketing Revolutionized Desire" by Gary S. Cross and Robert N. Proctor. Russello opens up his review saying, "This broad reach is possible because of a series of improvements in the way humans can preserve and package sights, sounds, and tastes. The ability to preserve pleasure indefinitely and release it on command has become an often-overlooked feature of modernity, in the shadow of equally impressive achievements in areas such as medicine or farming." Read the article here: https://buff.ly/40U9pzf

We're pleased to share that Josiah Joner, former editor of the Stanford Review , has been named a McLellan Prize Free Speech Writing Fellow. The $12,500 award is designed to help burgeoning writers pursue projects that enhance our understanding and advocacy of Free Speech. Josiah studied economics at Stanford University, where he served as the 68th Editor-in-Chief of The Stanford Review. At Stanford, Josiah covered various issues of free speech on campus and documented many of the university’s censorship efforts during the Covid pandemic. At a young age, he has testified before Congress on protecting free speech in higher education and has appeared on major television and radio networks. Josiah lives in the Bay Area and is working on a project about free speech and censorship at Stanford and beyond with noted Stanford Professor of Medicine, Economics, and Health Research Policy, Jay Bhattacharya. We look forward to welcoming Josiah to Grand Rapids on December 5th. If you haven't already done so, please make plans to join us in Grand Rapids, Michigan on 12/5/24 as we celebrate the first recipients of the McLellan Prizes for freedom of speech and expression, including Josiah Joner, Sam Goldman, and grand prize winner Greg Lukianoff: https://buff.ly/3UjLRzJ

Gene Callahan reviews Musa al-Gharbi's cutting new book "We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite". The book details the four cultural awakenings from the 1920s through current day and detail their commonalities. "The third and the current 'Great Awokenings' have followed similar patterns: when aspiring elites find their path to elite status threatened, they begin to rail against the current order. Each of the “Great Awokenings” thus have a common cause: elite overproduction, a situation in which there are more people who feel entitled to elite positions than there are such positions available." Read Callahan's review of the book he calls the "most important non-fiction book of the year": https://buff.ly/3YSE3qi

Jeffrey Folks reviews what he believes to be an enjoyable but flawed book: "American Refugees" by Roger L. Simon. While the book may touch what's on the tip of our tongues, it relies not on numbers...but on the author's opinions and observance.

"Seven Challenges that Shaped the New Testament: Understanding the Inherent Tensions of Early Christian Faith" written by F. Scott Spencer and reviewed by Ryan Patrick Budd is a picture of the seeming daily contradictions in which Christians live. Budd says, "For Spencer, the main thread running through the New Testament is 'cognitive dissonance,' meaning the holding of competing or even apparently contradictory ideas at the same time. For Spencer, these questions arise from an apparent conflict between the received data of faith and the experience of daily living. How can Christ be almighty if He suffered—or how can I, part of His body, suffer, if He is now in glory?" Budd says that although Spencer is a wonderful writer, many of these questions go unanswered in the book largely because Spencer himself does not have the answers. Read the full article review here: https://buff.ly/3CruU0g

According to reviewer, Michael P. Federici, "The Political Writings of George Washington" edited by Carson Holloway and Bradford. P. Wilson allows readers to avoid lengthy, often unimportant information to access the best of what George Washington offers. Federici says, "From this secondary literature, readers learn what is apparent from studying the primary sources in the Holloway and Wilson volumes, that Washington quoted or paraphrased the Bible more than any other literary source, that he was not a Deist, that he studied and was influenced by classical thinkers and sources, that his view of human nature was sober and consistent with the Judeo-Christian and classical traditions, and that he was a statesman of prudential judgment and moderation whose republican virtue was apparent throughout his life." Check out his full review here: https://buff.ly/3UA92py

Stephen O. Presley in "Cultural Sanctification: Engaging the World like the Early Church," proposes we are not going back far enough in our models for modern Christian living. If we are to compare and mirror, we should look to the beginning, the early Church. Reviewer Winston Hottman says, "Given the ongoing dismantling of the structures of Christendom, the earliest period of the Church offers an ever more fitting parallel to ours, one in which religious devotion is regarded not merely as irrelevant but increasingly as a threat to social order." Read his full review here: https://buff.ly/3CeJoQY

We're pleased to announce the first of two winners of an inaugural Richard D. McLellan Free Speech Writing Fellowship: Dr. Samuel Goldman. Sam is a professor of political science at @George-Washington-University. He is also the Executive Director of the John L. Loeb Jr. Institute for Religious Freedom and the Politics and Values Program at George Washington University. His two books–"God’s Country: Christian Zionism in America" and "After Nationalism"—have been highly praised in reviews and cited widely. As a McLellan Free Speech Writing Fellow, Sam is working on a book about conservatives and education in the 1950s, with a view to free speech and academic freedom implications. Please make plans to join us on 12.5 in Grand Rapids Michigan as we celebrate all the winners of this year's Richard D. McLellan Prizes for Free Speech and Expression: https://buff.ly/3UjLRzJ.