Happy Birthday, New Criterion

I’m often frustrated by the way in which leftism manages to position itself as the default mode of high culture.  People still quote the New Yorker to me as if it were something other than a left-wing attack rag.   And even I listen to NPR sometimes or watch PBS, choking back my disdain for their government-funded statism in order to enjoy their coverage of the arts.

But right-wing high culture – or let’s just call it non-relativistic high culture or culture based on the idea of truth – is out there, you just have to look a little harder to find it.  Charlie Rose may be able to sell his droning bias on TV’s everywhere, but Peter Robinson is still delivering sprightly and fascinating Uncommon Knowledge online.  The New York Review of Books may still be rabbiting on about things of deep importance to everyone from 57th Street all the way to 49th but The Claremont Review of Books is much, much better, if you can manage to get your hands on a copy.

Then, of course, there’s the Mac Daddy of them all:   The New Criterion which John O’Sullivan called “Quite simply, the best cultural review in the world.”  It’s run by Pajamas Media’s own Roger Kimball, a man so brilliant no one will dare tell him that bow ties have gone out of fashion.  The special 30th Anniversary issue is out, and it’s unbelievably good, with an article on Chesterton by Roger himself, as well as a wonderful piece on the role of the positive in fiction by bestselling mystery writer Alexander McCall Smith.

I hate to do commercials, but this one is from the heart.  Go to the website.  Celebrate NC’s 30th with a subscription or contribution.  Help keep this vital source of high culture alive.  We are winning the culture war, in case you hadn’t noticed.  This is no time to leave the leaders of the fight behind.