Free Republic

Thomas Sowell has studied and taught economics, intellectual history, and social policy at institutions that include Cornell University, UCLA, and Amherst College. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Sowell has published more than a dozen books, the latest of which is Dismantling America.

One character, his torso already relieved of arms and legs, is tossed onto the barbecue. Another’s hands and tongue are severed to keep her from reporting a crime. (She’s then stabbed to death anyway.) Two more characters are beheaded; one behanded; one hanged. For those who like their violence more ironic, there’s this happy couple: the man left buried up to his neck to starve, the woman fed a pie made from the minced remains of her sons. The meal may give her heartburn, but it’s the subsequent stabbing that kills her. A Game of Thrones episode? No, it’s Titus...

Not much is certain in life, but here are two things you can take to the bank. If you want a child to learn to read, phonics is the way that works. Second, you can be sure that our Education Establishment will try to keep phonics at a minimum and force children to memorize the English language one sight-word at a time. Where reading is concerned, the nonsense never stops. In his famous 1955 book Why Johnny Can’t Read, Rudolf Flesch said he looked at all the research. There were 11 studies from 1913 to 1948; in all of them,...

Daily Surge’s Jason Mattera is being hailed a hero Thursday for his “beautiful ambush journalism.” He caught up with Hillary Clinton and politely asked her to sign a copy of her new book “Hard Choices.” When asked who she should make it out to, he replied, “To Christopher Stevens. I think you knew him.” When she refused, he followed up with, “What difference does it make?”

Crowds flocked to Glide Memorial Church to memorialize poet and activist Maya Angelou, who died May 28 at the age of 86. Around here, Angelou was remembered for being San Francisco's first African American streetcar conductor, a title she earned at the age of 16. Unsurprisingly, Mayor Ed Lee trotted out that historical tidbit on Sunday, while addressing the congregation. It led him to a strange, rather un-funny joke that later made the rounds on social media. "If she was still around, I would probably ask her to drive a Muni," Mayor Ed Lee said. One could see how this...

In an email this evening, a veteran publishing source calls the latest Hillary Clinton book...a "bomb." "They sold 60,000 hard covers first week and 24,000 ebooks." The publishing house was "hoping and praying for 150,000 print first week." "The 60k represents a less than 10% sell thru based on what they shipped,"

Rush discussing the fact that despite $50 million in FREE marketing from the drive-by media, Hillary's book can't get above #4 on Amazon. When Patriot's History of the United States first came out, it got to #35 and stayed there for a while despite virtually no national publicity---and before Glenn Beck discovered it six years later. All it took was some mentions by Beck to take it all the way to #1, not just on Amazon, but on the NYTimes list, but my subsequent book "Seven Events that Made America" made the NYTimes list without much fanfare from Beck. Rush's...

With Hillary Clinton’s new book, Hard Choices, on the shelves, it would behoove her to stay far away from reading the Amazon comments readers left for her. Although she has 142 five stars, she has 205 one star ratings and some of them are, well, not so flattering.

Eric Hill, whose effort to entertain his young son with a simple drawing of a mischievous dog named Spot blossomed into a popular series of children's books that have sold more than 60 million copies, has died at his home in central California. He was 86.

June 7, 2014 The West's Last Stand -- a Review of The Camp of the Saints By Robert Klein Engler All those engaged in the debate over illegal immigration should find Jean Raispail’s The Camp of the Saints a challenging summer read. Otto Scott calls it "one of the most famous of the underground books." Lionel Shriver believes it is a "novel both prescient and appalling." The book became so notorious that the December 1994 issue of the Atlantic Monthly investigated many of the questions it raised. The Camp of the Saints was published first in 1973 in France as...

Last week, the engineering arm of the European Space Agency confirmed that it has been commissioned to test the space-hardiness of the capsule that would contain the Torah, the Post reported. The capsule must be designed to protect the sacred text from the moon’s harsh radiation and temperature changes for at least 10,000 years. The moon lacks an atmosphere to trap heat, and the surface temperatures can rocket to a daytime high of about 253 degrees and plunge to 279 degrees below zero at night.

As sparring partners go, a Hollywood actress and an evolutionary biologist would not appear to be a natural fit. However, Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie, 39, and controversial scientist Professor Richard Dawkins, 73, have found themselves inadvertently at loggerheads over whether children should be allowed to read fairytales. Miss Jolie, who plays an evil fairy godmother in her latest film Maleficent – a spin on the classic story of Sleeping Beauty – said fairytales play an important role in how she raises her six children, using ‘a little magic’ to impart important moral lessons. The other day, one of the kids lost...

Maureen Dowd travelled to Colorado in January, ate a bit too much of a marijuana-laced chocolate bar and proceeded to have a Valley-of-the-Dolls-style meltdown in her hotel room. Here's how she describes the experience in her Wednesday New York Times column: "I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. I barely made it from the desk to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours. I was thirsty but couldn't move to get water. Or even turn off the lights. I was panting and paranoid, sure that when the...

The father of one of the girls accused of brutally stabbing a school friend to pay homage to an eerie horror story character, apparently encouraged his daughter's sick obsession by proudly posting a sketch the 12-year-old drew of the scary figure on Instagram. Morgan Geyser, 12, drew the sinister stickman, inspired by an online ghost story about a ghoulish child killer called Slender Man, on a napkin and left it in the family home while she was out with her parents were out for dinner. But far from being alarmed by the disturbing sketch, Morgan's father Matt seemed to find...

Author and columnist Amity Shlaes responds to viewers' questions and comments on such topics as Depression era presidents and current fiscal policies. She’s the author of four non-fiction books, including The Forgotten Man and Coolidge.

You probably SparkNoted these books before, but now's your chance to read them.

News host Bill O’Reilly’s fourth book in his multimillion-selling history series will examine the mysterious death surrounding famed World War II Gen. George Patton. Stephen Rubin, president and publisher of Henry Holt and Company, announced Wednesday that “Killing Patton” will be published on Sept. 23. Martin Dugard will be the co-author. …

The great writer Harlan Ellison turns 80 today. Ellison has won eight Hugo Awards, a shared award for the screenplay of A Boy and his Dog that he counts as "half an Hugo" and two special awards from annual World SF Conventions; four Nebula Awards of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA); five Bram Stoker Awards of the Horror Writers Association (HWA); two Edgar Awards of the Mystery Writers of America; two World Fantasy Award from annual conventions; and two Georges Méliès fantasy film awards. -- Wikipedia Ellison is known primarily to television viewers as the author...

I remember, when you were down. And you needed a helping hand I came to feed you But now that I need you You won't give me a second glance. Now I'm calling all citizens from all over the world This is captain America calling. -------------------------------------------- You've been sleeping in a field but you look real rested You set out to outrage but you can't get arrested You say your image is new, but it looks well tested You're lost without a crowd................. Misfit. -------------------------------------- This is the twentieth century, But too much aggravation It's the age of insanity, What...

Mark Lee Greenblatt, family man and full-time lawyer, never expected to write a book. As a man with no military experience, he especially never expected to write a book on modern-day war heroes. But after attending events throughout the years at the Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs, Greenblatt became intrigued by the stories of young men and women who served their country.