Author: Clyde Wilson (Clyde Wilson)

What is History? What do historians claim to be doing? What is it that historians are actually doing? What is it that historians should be doing? My desire is rather to provoke discussion than to lay down the law. —Sir Walter Greg Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply...

” . . . the play’s the thing . . . “   —Hamlet, Prince of Denmark In a recent outing on this site I gave as an example of the emptiness of American culture the fact that American movies today are British Commonwealth dominated in directors, writers, and performers. I confess, I love movies, for...

My late friend Sam Francis often wrote about the need for Americans to defend their “culture.”  Most assuredly Americans have lives, families, land, and property that they need to and have every right to defend and preserve (which they are not doing a very good job of).   But “culture”?  I always wondered exactly what Sam...

“For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth with darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.”—Ecclesiastes 6:4 “Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?”—Ecclesiastes 8:4 “Our” President says that those of us who blame Islam for terrorism are as bad as...

“Political words of all others are the most indefinite, on account of the constant struggle of power to enlarge itself by tortured construction of terms.”—John Taylor of Caroline To have spent the better part of a working life as a historian studying Americans of earlier times has been a privilege. It is also a sorrowful...

It is sad to contemplate what the American Melted Pot and Deweyite education have done to the language of Shakespeare—which was also the language of the founders of America—the most beautiful and utilizable of all the tongues of man.  In our country in ...

A BBC television spy series, M I-5, which is now being marketed to the U.S., portrays a heroic group of British government agents who have been beefed up and empowered since 9/11 to fight the rising threat of terrorism. In the first episode, the ...

“And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth,and it grieved him at his heart.”—Genesis 6:6 It doesn’t matter, since right or wrong, no one will remember, but here are my predictions for 2008 and after. Clinton and Obama will be the Democratic nominees for President and V-P, and will be...

The difference between politics and history is that the living do not give up their secrets with the candour of the dead. —Acton The study of history is not to make us cleverer for next time, but to make us wiser, forever. —Acton History is the science of what only happens once. —Unknown History is...