The Latest(ish)
If you have not heard of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, you haven’t been paying attention, you haven’t been reading your National Review, and you are probably unaware just how near Europe may be to serious sectarian disorder. You’ve also missed out on the remarkable story of how an obscure refugee from Somalia rose to become a leading figure in the fight against the oppression of Muslim women, and a prominent member of the Dutch parliament, only to be forced by fear for her safety to cross the Atlantic into what looks a lot like exile in America. Now, thanks to the [...]
Pilgrim’s Progress
April 30, 2007
Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali; published originally in National Review
If there is one thing, and one thing only, to be grasped about Britain’s failure to head off Hitler in time, it’s that it was almost certainly inevitable. Unfortunately, this is something that readers of “Troublesome Young Men” ( Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 448 pages, $27.50), a new book that explains how Winston Churchill rose to power and appeasement fell, will have to discover from another, more balanced source. What’s more, to describe “Troublesome Young Men” as a “new” book in anything other than the most literal sense is to be too kind. Yes, the additional, if occasionally rather gossipy, [...]
Victory at All Costs
April 11, 2007
Troublesome Young Men by Lynne Olsen; published originally in The New York Sun
No television series boasting an opening sequence that includes a brutal assassination, ecstatic adulterous sex, the gorgeously bared breasts of Ruta Gedmintas, and an angry, thoroughly deserved, shout of “French bastards” will ever get too harsh a review from me. With HBO’s The Sopranos currently being whacked into syndication at the end of this season, Showtime is now trying to win viewers over with The Tudors, a tale drawn from the history of a family infinitely more dangerous than those departing New Jersey mobsters. Judging by the sex, violence, and splendor of its wickedly entertaining first few episodes it might [...]
Ohhh, Henry
April 2, 2007
The Tudors; published originally in National Review Online