https://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2011/04/04/terry-jones-and-preemptive-capitulation/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usWed, 10 Jun 2026 01:26:51 -0400<![CDATA[Years ago, I picked up a tattered but serviceable edition of the great Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Published in 1910, the twenty-eight-volume monument to human curiosity about the “arts, sciences, literature and general information” is a testament to scholarly industry. Compared to the mealy-mouthed reference works that clutter library shelves today, which typically compete to outdo one another in the exhibition of moral relativism, the Eleventh Edition (the common shorthand by which the work is known) is also a testament to a neglected virtue: robust cultural confidence.  For a Westerner, it is refreshing to dip into its unembarrassed pages and savor its masculine prose.  Volume I, for example (“A” to “Androphagi”), contains a most illuminating article about that once-far-away mountain fastness,  Afghanistan. After a few pages about the history, climate, and geography of this Asiatic byway, the writer introduces us to the people, “handsome and athletic” but treacherous.]]>Mon, 04 Apr 2011 07:20:50 -0400<![CDATA[Roger Kimball]]>https://pjmedia.com/roger-kimball/2011/04/04/terry-jones-and-preemptive-capitulation-n116554