Hume’s Essays Review

To say that Hume’s essays are not worth reading would be untrue.  There is a reason that they endure, and, as is evident from this review, there are insights to be gained.  Perhaps it is unfair of me to compare a collection of essays to some of the most influential works of political thought in the past thousand years.

Philip and Alexander Review

I could have read about Alexander the Great from one of the many historical sources who wrote about him, either contemporaneous with his campaigns, or within a few centuries, but such ancient works tend not to capture what I hoped to find in Philip and Alexander: an exploration of both kings’ reigns, and how the one informed the other.

War and Peace Review

It luxuriates, meandering through lives and small events that stack up into occasional flashes of intense conflict.  Instead of following a central plot thread all the way through in a direct fashion, as a modern novel would, Tolstoy leads the reader on a winding path that, while you’re walking it, can feel unfocused, but that somehow still conveys a sense of progress.