Daniel Boone was a great American explorer and woodsman of Keltic ancestry—part Scottish, part Welsh. (And one odd and surprising thing about him that hardly anyone knows is that he was a Quaker.) He is a real American hero, but maybe not quite the way you have visualized him. Daniel Boone is considered so archetypal that it has been said the story of Boone is the story of America itself, a point hammered home in the new Boone: A Biography, by Robert Morgan, the author of 12 books....
It has been said that the Irish saved western civilization, and it is true that they are largely responsible for keeping the flame of the Greeks and Romans going during the dark ages, and thus preserving our civilization. But Ireland’s greatest export in recent times has been people. In New Zealand and South Africa, North and South America and throughout Europe the Irish presence has been felt, influencing the racial make-up of at least five continents. This article by Rhodesian Arthur Kemp,...
The protestant reformation got rolling during the first half of the 16th century when Martin Luther (1483-1546), a German Catholic priest, attempted to reform the Roman Church most notably by declaring that Christians should focus upon faith as a means to salvation. He feared that through selling “indulgences,” the church came perilously close to selling salvation to the rich. Luther believed that the ultimate power of decision as to who would be saved was vested in God, not the church…...
Being a Scot is not all kilts and bagpipes, by any means. Often inaccurately portrayed as backward romantics, the Scots in many ways laid an essential foundation for today’s intellectual, commercial and political milieu. Each place they entered around the globe—North America, Australia, India—they left their mark. Most of it seems to have been of a distinctly positive nature. Here we focus on the contributions of Scotsmen to the culture of the United States. Scots and people of...
Part 2 of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s banned book series 200 Years Together . The domestic and international dimensions of the Bolshevik revolution can be grasped only by familiarization with what happened in the power centers of the capitals of Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg, later called Leningrad) and, from March 1918 on, Moscow, and the consequent effects on the vast tracts of Russia. Enough books have appeared concerning this. The goal of this review is to show two things: 1) that...
Often called “the most handsome man in America” at the time, John Wilkes Booth was the 26-year-old actor and Southern sympathizer who raised a .44 caliber derringer to the back of Abraham Lincoln’s head and pulled the trigger. About that fact there is no doubt. Booth was what is now known as a “superstar,” and was recognized by hundreds when he leaped to the stage from the president’s box at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. and made his dramatic exit. But from that moment, much...
