Uncommon Knowledge by topic: Culture
Charles Murray on Coming Apart
This week, on Uncommon Knowledge, longtime American Enterprise Institute fellow Charles Murray discusses his controversial new book, Coming Apart, about what America was, is, and will become. He also reveals his personal score on his now famous “bubble quiz.” Take the quiz here.
“If you were a guy [in 1963] and you were in your 30s and 40s, you either were working or you were looking for work, or you had better have a really good excuse like being completely, totally, physically incapacitated. If you were not working and not looking for work at that age group, you were a bum. Your parents would tell you that. Your siblings would tell you that. Your wife, if you had one would be appalled at it. That was all very simple then.” (47:35)
The conservative newsroom
Gerard Baker is deputy editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal and Andrew Ferguson is a senior editor at the Weekly Standard. His most recent book is Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course at Getting His Kids into College. They discuss, with Hoover research fellow Peter Robinson, journalism: its creative impulses, profit margins, and the monochromatic newsroom.
David Berlinski—Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions
David Berlinski is the author of a number of books, including the recent volumes One, Two, Three: Absolutely Elementary Mathematics and The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions.
Andrew Breitbart — Media War
A publisher, columnist, and blogger, Andrew Breitbart is the founder of the Breitbart network of investigative news websites including Breitbart.com, Breitbart.tv, Big Government, Big Hollywood, Big Journalism, and Big Peace. Breitbart’s new book is Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me while I Save the World!
William Voegeli—The American Welfare State
A visiting scholar at the Henry Salvatori Center at Claremont McKenna College, William Voegeli is a senior editor of the Claremont Review of Books and the author of Never Enough: America’s Limitless Welfare State.
Stanley Kurtz—Radical-In-Chief
An author, journalist, and social anthropologist (PhD Harvard), Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and a contributing editor to National Review Online. His latest book is Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism.
H.S.H. Prince Hans-Adam II – The State in the Third Millennium
INALIENABLE RITES? Gay Marriage in the Courts
On March 14, 2005, a California Superior Court judge ruled that the state's ban on same-sex marriage violated the state constitution. Although the decision is certain to be appealed up to the California Supreme Court, California may now be on the road to joining Massachusetts in legalizing gay marriage. Did the Superior Court judge decide correctly? Just how compelling are the constitutional arguments for and against gay marriage? Peter Robinson speaks with Terry Thompson and Tobias Wolff.
MONKEY BUSINESS: Evolution and Intelligent Design
In October 2004, the school board in the small town of Dover, Pennsylvania, ordered its high school biology teachers to preface classes on evolution with the statement: "Darwin's Theory is a theory not a fact. Gaps in the theory exist for which there is no evidence." As an alternative to evolution, the school board suggested "intelligent design," a theory holding that life on earth could not have developed at random. Are there gaps in the theory of evolution that undermine its credibility? What should we make of "intelligent design"? And just what should we be teaching our children about the development of life on earth? Peter Robinson speaks with Massimo Pigliucci and Jonathan Wells.
DIVORCE, TRANSATLANTIC STYLE? The Future of the Transatlantic Alliance
For forty-five years, the threat of conflict with the Soviet Union brought the United States and Western Europe into a tight partnership, most notably represented by the NATO military alliance. But with the Soviet Union gone and the European Union on the road to possible superpower status in its own right, does the transatlantic alliance have a future? Peter Robinson speaks with Niall Ferguson, Josef Joffe, and Coit Blacker.