With Both Hands

Sign in Subscribe

Middle East

Linkfest 2021-03-12: The Importance of Leaving Bad Reviews

The Old That is Strong: Tolkien & the Anglo-Saxons An achingly beautiful exposition on how key passages in the Lord of the Rings echo either Anglo-Saxon history or Northern epic poems. Now I want to re-read my copy of Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney [Amazon link]. I had considered naming

The Long View 2006-12-01: Benedict in Istanbul; Transcendent Liturgy; Great Days

I will admit I haven’t thought deeply about whether Turkey’s admission to the European Union would have in fact been good or bad. I do find Pope Emeritus Benedict’s acts less alarming in retrospect than John did at the time. Some random thoughts: * Turkey wouldn’t have

The Long View: A History of the Crusades

Sir Steven Runciman's three volume history has seen quite a bit of criticism in the last twenty-five years. However, it tells a hell of a good story, and you can learn something even if you disagree with Runciman's take. A History of the Crusades By Sir

The Long View: What If the Second Temple Had Survived AD 70?

A fun bit of alternative history exploring the likely impact of the survival of the Second Temple upon the religion and politics of the Middle East. What If the Second Temple Had Survived AD 70? This note takes issue with Donald Harman Akenson's recent book, "Surpassing Wonder:

The Long View 2004-01-23: Presidential Hostage-Taking; Sitzkrieg; Catechesis

John Reilly pooh-poohed a news report in 2004 linking Iran to al-Qaeda, but twelve years later, John Schindler, who was in the NSA at the time of 9/11, still wants to dig into the Iranian connection. Make of that what you will. John also pooh-poohed the ability of Special

The Long View 2004-01-01

Another year of John's blog down. In many ways, this is a journey of self-discovery, as well as remembrance. It is painful to read the things John wrote about Iraq in 2003, but if we are honest with ourselves, many of us said or thought the same things

The Long View 2003-11-20: Snappy Answers

John's 2003 ponderings about Mars in this post and the last are fortuitous, since I just reviewed the Martian by Andy Weir. This is exactly the kind of thing that got me interested in science, and directed me to physics as a field of study. Planetary science has