The American Conservative Culture

Culture Among Hungary’s Weird Nomad Nationalists A dispatch from the “Meeting of the Tribes.” (Ilkin Eskipehlivan/Anadolu via Getty Images) In late summer, the drive south from Budapest has an ominous, apocalyptic feel. As suburbs give way to the flat expanse of the Hungarian countryside, the landscape turns brown and yellow, broken only by a few dul

Culture Commercial, but Not Purely Commercial The unvarying routines of doux commerce are the frame for civilized human life. TakiMag Arriving back in the small town in England in which I live (at least part of the time) after an absence of three months, I was pleased, and reassured, to find the same shops and shopkeepers that I had left behind. Quite apart fro

Culture Culture Lessons From the Botched Tennessee Execution Why is incompetence given such free rein in the American justice system? TakiMag “If it were done when ’tis done,” said Macbeth, “then ’twere well it were done quickly.” He might have been speaking in criticism of the death penalty a

Culture Propriety Is the Basis of Freedom When “obedience to the unenforceable” falls by the wayside, expect both disorder and tyranny to take its place. TakiMag (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) It is by no means uncommon to hear someone reply to criticism of his conduct by saying that there was no law against it. This is a sinister reply,

Culture Culture The Dictator Who Laughs Last Ingratitude may revive socialist repression—but at least the political jokes might get better. TakiMag Photo by Miguel Palacios/Cover/Getty Images In the good old days of the late Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship, he was known as la vache

Culture Culture Netflix’s 9/11 Documentary Is Too Big for its Runtime Turning Point never settles on what it’s actually arguing. Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Much of the director Brian Knappenberger’s new Netflix film, Turning Point: Generation 9/

Culture Turn Back  It is not time for conservation, but for restoration. “Turn back, O man, forswear thy foolish ways,” begins an old Episcopal hymn, from the time before that church became a Vestals cult. Conservatives know our country is declining at an ever-increasing pace. But many seem not to understand how to reverse that decline: turn back to what worked

Culture The Straussian Machiavelli? Michael Anton’s new book on the early modern political theorist has much to recommend it, dubious gematria aside. Image credit: Hillsdale College Michael Anton, Studies in Machiavellian Political Philosophy (New York City and London: Encounter Books, 2026) 451+XVI pp.  Reading Michael Anton’s book of well-w

Culture Culture Preparing for the Fire The conflagrations in France provide an occasion for deciding what is actually valuable. All four of my grandparents were refugees, fleeing real persecution and the prospect of death. My mother was a refugee, and her sister was a refugee twice in her life by the a

Culture Will the Decline of Drinking Kill Socialization? Teetotaling youngsters may find they are missing out on an important part of life. (Room 76/Shutterstock) Older adults, according to new data from the UK, are 50 percent more likely than those under 40 to be regular drinkers. Alcohol consumption in the USA, meanwhile, is at a record low. The

Culture Culture The Generation 9/11 Made And what should they know of the security state who only the security state know? I have always said that my life began on September 11, 2001. I was three years old at the time, and I was seated in front of the television in my parent’s basement. At this point,

Culture Culture Who’s Telling ‘Yarns’ Now? The New York Times and other elite institutions are protective of their own myths about the past. TakiMag (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) One of the greatest things President Donald Trump has done for the country is to begin the long

Culture Put Out More Flags The American flag is as alive as the country it represents.  Photo by Sandrine Marty / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images American Icon: The US Flag in Art National Gallery of Art, June 6–December 6 In 1954, Jasper Johns had a dream of himself painting an American flag. When he woke up, the artist executed his first work

Culture Culture We Happy Few, We Band Of Wokesters Why do the Brits imitate the worst in American culture? Assuming the ridiculous gushing over a Cambridge conman was not a national Monty Python sketch arranged for tourists, the Jason Arday affair reminded me of one of the most peculiar things about Br

Culture Culture Vice Presidential Elegy J.D. Vance toplines the benefits of faith—but maintains his essential enigma. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst / POOL / AFP via Getty Images) Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, by JD Vance, HarperCollins, 304 pages. In 1990, the CNN founder Ted

Culture Culture The Age of the Ego Graffitists and modern architects alike are screaming into the void of mass culture. Photo by Romain Doucelin/NurPhoto via Getty Images Once more on my way from the center of Paris to the airport, I marvelled at the sheer hideousness of almost everyth

Culture Culture The Age of Cohn A new biography of the notorious lawyer sheds light on the Trump era. American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey From Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump, by Kai Bird with Susan Goldmark. Scribner. 528 pages “Leave Donald alone,” Roy Cohn warned a federal prosecutor. “He’s

Culture The Cowboy Diplomacy of Dory Funk Jr. Funk was one of a kind—a wrestling champion who built bridges between America and postwar Japan. Photo by WWE/WWE via Getty Images Dory Funk Jr.—pro wrestling champion, trainer, and international icon—died earlier this month at 85. Although less famous here, perhaps, than some of his colleagues, Funk’s li

Culture The Little Joys of Leaving a Movie Theater As the credits roll, the ticket-buyers reenter the world. Photo by Stéphane Ouzounoff / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images Last weekend, while I was watching the 1961 version of West Side Story on the big screen at an old theater in my hometown of Columbus, it started to rain outside. The storm cau

Culture The WNBA Is Cashing In on Politics Sophie Cunningham’s culture-war controversy is helping to make the WNBA must-watch TV. (Soobum Im/Getty Images) It’s been a big few weeks for the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). Sophie Cunningham, a tall, pretty blonde bench player for the Indiana Fever, has been at the center of what has be