Devotion, Italian style

by Marco Grassi

On “reading” early Italian painting.

John Fonte on sovereignty & its enemies

Exclusive audio from The New Criterion’s “Sovereignty or Submission” conference.

Pat Passlof’s touch of the brush

by Andrew L. Shea

On “Pat Passlof: The Brush is the Finger of the Brain—Paintings 1949–2011” at the Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation.

In memoriam: Roger Scruton, 1944–2020

The New Criterion mourns the passing of the philosopher and longtime contributor.

Rousseau & the origins of liberalism

by Roger Scruton

The second in a series titled “The betrayal of liberalism.”

The sly art of escalation

by James Bowman

On the doomed tactics behind the military term.

January 2020

Notes & Comments

1619 & all that

On The New York Times’s recent disinformation campaign.

Features

Sovereignty or submission: a symposium

Introduction: sovereignty or submission

by Roger Kimball

On the recent conference held by The New Criterion and the Center for American Greatness in Washington, D.C.

Sovereignty or submission: a symposium

Sovereignty & its enemies

by John Fonte

On transnational progressivism and the forces abetting it.

Sovereignty or submission: a symposium

The idea of an American nation

by James Piereson

On the genesis of the American nation-state.

Sovereignty or submission: a symposium

The Left v. the nation

by John O’Sullivan

On the importance of consensus.

Sovereignty or submission: a symposium

Pre- & post-citizens

by Victor Davis Hanson

On the meaning of citizenship in the twenty-first century.

Sovereignty or submission: a symposium

The enemy is an idea

by Michael Anton

On the notion of a “liberal international order.”

Sovereignty or submission: a symposium

Liberty: collective & individual

by Angelo M. Codevilla

On the singularity of the U.S. political system.

Poems

Summer river Rosie dam

by Christian Wiman

And someone wrote it down

by Christian Wiman

A light store in the Bowery

by Christian Wiman

Letter from Southsea

All washed up

by Anthony Daniels

On a recent trip to Southsea, Portsmouth, England.

Reconsiderations

Chasing Nabokov

by John Simon

On Think, Write, Speak: Uncollected Essays, Reviews, Interviews, and Letters to the Editor by Vladimir Nabokov, edited by Brian Boyd and Anastasia Tolstoy.

Reflections

Courting dishonor

by Simon Heffer

On the uses and abuses of the British honors system.

Theater

The bijou from Peru

by Kyle Smith

On The Letters of Cole Porter, edited by Cliff Eisen and Dominic McHugh.

Art

Kirchner at the Neue Galerie

by Karen Wilkin

On “Ernst Ludwig Kirchner” at the Neue Galerie, New York.

Exhibition note

by Mario Naves

On “Félix Vallotton: Painter of Disquiet” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Music

New York chronicle

by Jay Nordlinger

On new music by James MacMillan, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Bryce Dessner; newish music by Philip Glass and Wynton Marsalis; unfamiliar music by Bizet; the conductors Riccardo Muti and Santtu-Matias Rouvali; the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato; and the pianist Conrad Tao.

The media

Uncivil service

by James Bowman

On the strained relationship between the intelligence services and their duly elected command.

Notebook

John Simon, 1925–2019

by James Panero

Remembering the cultural critic and longtime New Criterion contributor.

The Critic’s Notebook

by The Editors

January 21, 2020

On Beowulf, English Romanticism, Russian art in Victorian England & more from the world of culture.

All in a day’s work

by Robert S. Erickson

January 21, 2020

On Greater Clements at the Lincoln Center Theater.

Some modest proposals

by Polyarchus of Halicarnassus

January 20, 2020

Ideas to save the Republic.

Week in review

by Robert S. Erickson

January 18, 2020

On Pliny, Alonso Berruguete & urban development in New York City.

The sly art of escalation

by James Bowman

January 18, 2020

On the doomed tactics behind the military term.

Visit the Blog

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Books

Cosmopolitan cocktail

on The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture by Orlando Figes

reviewed by Brooke Allen

Romans & countrymen

on Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium by Anthony Kaldellis

reviewed by Thomas F. Madden

Britain’s Valhalla

on Westminster Abbey: A Church in History (The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art) by David Cannadine

reviewed by Harry Adams

Book of the year

on Beethoven 1806 (AMS Studies in Music) by Mark Ferraguto

reviewed by John Check

Bookstore

Devotion, Italian style

by Marco Grassi

John Fonte on sovereignty & its enemies

Exclusive audio from The New Criterion’s “Sovereignty or Submission” conference.

Pat Passlof’s touch of the brush

by Andrew L. Shea

In memoriam: Roger Scruton, 1944–2020

Rousseau & the origins of liberalism

by Roger Scruton

The sly art of escalation

by James Bowman

January 2020

Notes & Comments

1619 & all that

Features

Introduction: sovereignty or submission

by Roger Kimball

Sovereignty & its enemies

by John Fonte

The idea of an American nation

by James Piereson

The Left v. the nation

by John O’Sullivan

Pre- & post-citizens

by Victor Davis Hanson

The enemy is an idea

by Michael Anton

Liberty: collective & individual

by Angelo M. Codevilla

Poems

Summer river Rosie dam

by Christian Wiman

And someone wrote it down

by Christian Wiman

A light store in the Bowery

by Christian Wiman

Letter from Southsea

All washed up

by Anthony Daniels

Reconsiderations

Chasing Nabokov

by John Simon

Reflections

Courting dishonor

by Simon Heffer

Theater

The bijou from Peru

by Kyle Smith

Art

Kirchner at the Neue Galerie

by Karen Wilkin

Exhibition note

by Mario Naves

Music

New York chronicle

by Jay Nordlinger

The media

Uncivil service

by James Bowman

Notebook

John Simon, 1925–2019

by James Panero

The Critic’s Notebook

by The Editors

January 21, 2020

All in a day’s work

by Robert S. Erickson

January 21, 2020

Some modest proposals

by Polyarchus of Halicarnassus

January 20, 2020

Week in review

by Robert S. Erickson

January 18, 2020

The sly art of escalation

by James Bowman

January 18, 2020

Stay informed with our weekly email newsletter, “The Critic’s Notebook.”

Subscribe to our Critic's Notebook

A free weekly newsletter about arts & culture

Subscribe to our
Critic's Notebook

1
Why I became a conservative by Roger Scruton

2
Cosmopolitan cocktail by Brooke Allen

3
Rousseau & the origins of liberalism by Roger Scruton

4
Pre- & post-citizens by Victor Davis Hanson

5
Leninthink by Gary Saul Morson

6
What Henry James knew by Cynthia Ozick

7
1619 & all that

8
Devotion, Italian style by Marco Grassi

9
The idea of an American nation by James Piereson

10
Britain’s Valhalla by Harry Adams

1
1619 & all that

2
Pre- & post-citizens by Victor Davis Hanson

3
The idea of an American nation by James Piereson

4
Why I became a conservative by Roger Scruton

5
Leninthink by Gary Saul Morson

6
The greatest of all novels by Gary Saul Morson

7
Chasing Nabokov by John Simon

8
Cosmopolitan cocktail by Brooke Allen

9
How the great truth dawned by Gary Saul Morson

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The slyer virus: the West’s anti-westernism by Mark Steyn

1
Leninthink by Gary Saul Morson

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How the great truth dawned by Gary Saul Morson

3
The greatest of all novels by Gary Saul Morson

4
Decline & fall: classics edition

5
“Massive retaliation”: the only answer

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A genuinely transgressive act

7
1619 & all that

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Woke’s on you

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The perversions of M. Foucault by Roger Kimball

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Borges’s mirror by Jacob Howland

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Leninthink by Gary Saul Morson

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How the great truth dawned by Gary Saul Morson

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The good populism by Victor Davis Hanson

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The greatest of all novels by Gary Saul Morson

5
The perversions of M. Foucault by Roger Kimball

6
Decline & fall: classics edition

7
“Massive retaliation”: the only answer

8
“The Idiot” savant by Gary Saul Morson

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A genuinely transgressive act

10
1619 & all that