Charles Haywood (The Worthy House)

Why manual work for boys and men is essential; how to accomplish this in the modern world; and of the essential differences between masculine and feminine. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/08/30/on-manual-work-for-men-2/ [This article was published last year in the journal Man's World. This popular journal is edited by the pseudonymous Raw Egg Nationalist (who can be found here on Twitter). A flipbook version can be found here. It is reprinted here for those who may have missed it, and I am also including, for the first time for this piece, audio and video versions.] We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "Those who rule us seek to stamp out masculinity. Over the past several decades their attacks have been wildly successful, as a glance around you will show. True, in some families, boys are still raised to be men. But when they leave home, the never-ending attacks of the feminizers pick off many, because in every area of mainstream American life, masculine behavior is anathemized and punished. Only those willing to pay heavy personal costs can defy this never-ending coercion. Some men resist, and some even reverse the indoctrination, discovering and adopting masculinity on their own—although without broader social support and traditions, such self-taught men run the risk of caricaturing masculinity. What we need is a mechanism for any man, at any age, to begin centering and cultivating real, well-rounded, durable masculinity. Fortunately, such a mechanism is readily available and teachable—taking up tool-based manual work." . . .

Today no politics; rather a meditation on prayer and worship, through the lens of the natural world. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/08/16/the-sunlilies-eastern-orthodoxy-as-a-radical-counterculture-graham-pardun/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "It’s time for a palate cleanser, a turn away from politics and from endless talk of the evil man does to man. Today our focus is a lovely and inspiring book of Eastern Orthodox meditations on prayer, revolving largely around the natural world as a manifestation of God’s will and love. I have been saying at my own Orthodox church for the past few years, to some skepticism from the cradle Orthodox, “Orthodoxy is the coming thing!” And maybe I am right. After all, as the subtitle of The Sunlilies says, Orthodoxy offers a radical counterculture, and given that sweeping change is what our society needs, and will get one way or the other, Orthodoxy may well be a major part of building our future." . . .

An examination of the pernicious ideology of feminism, and of what can and should be done to combat it by future rulers. (The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/03/10/the-recovery-of-family-life-exposing-the-limits-of-modern-ideologies-scott-yenor/) We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site, https://www.theworthyhouse.com, and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email. This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "You know what America needs? More mirrors for princes—the Renaissance genre of advice books directed at statesmen. On the Right, we have many books that identify, and complain about, the problems of modernity and the challenges facing us. Some of those books do offer concrete solutions, but their audience is usually either the educated masses, who cannot themselves translate those solutions into policy, or policymakers who have no actual power, or refuse to use the power they do have. Scott Yenor’s bold new book is directed at those who have the will to actually rule. He lays out what has been done to the modern family, why, and what can and should be done about it, by those who have power, now or in the future. Let’s hope the target audience is paying attention." . . .

A discussion of the tyranny under which we now live, combined with thoughts on what to do about it, primarily through the lens of analyzing the CDC's orders on evictions and masks, along with the proposed Emmett Till Antilynching Act. (The written version of this analysis can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/02/23/on-the-brawndo-tyranny/) We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site, https://www.theworthyhouse.com, and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email. This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "America was, for much of its existence, defined as a nation of laws, not men, in the famous phrase of John Adams. No more. Now men, but only some men, rule. They rule as they please, in arbitrary, selective, self-benefitting fashion. Thus, what we live under is a tyranny, a system without rule of law. Unlike a traditional tyranny, though, our tyrant is not one man, but rather a compound being. Think the classic picture of Hobbes’s Leviathan, one giant and powerful undying creature, whose body is composed of the hive members of our rotten ruling class. But look more closely—our Leviathan is giant and powerful, yes, but is also drooling and imbecilic." . . .

A fascinating history of events a hundred years ago, which echo today in the Russo-Ukraine War. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/07/31/the-fortress-the-siege-of-przemysl-and-the-making-of-europes-bloodlands-alexander-watson/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "I suspect not one in a thousand Americans could locate Galicia, a historically-important area spanning what is now southeastern Poland and western Ukraine, on a map. To be fair, Galicia is today not on most maps, since it’s not a country, and never has been. It is, or was, a land of many ethnic groups, ruled by the Austrians from the 1700s until 1918, and before that by the Poles. In the middle of Galicia lies Przemyśl, now a Polish town near the Ukrainian border. During the early days of World War I, Przemyśl was repeatedly the scene of ferocious battles, which are the topic of Alexander Watson’s The Fortress. The history offered here is vivid and compelling, and it also usefully illuminates today’s Russo-Ukraine War." . . .

A crucial work for a crucial time—Christopher Rufo's "America’s Cultural Revolution," which traces the rise total dominance of the Left. Knowledge is power, and this book offers it to both the (aborning) elites and to the masses. This is the audio narration version of my review published in the journal IM-1776. The written version of this review can be found here: https://im1776.com/2023/07/20/america-cultural-revolution-review/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "Christopher Rufo has earned a stellar reputation as both analyst of, and strategist against, the poison of “critical theory.” In America’s Cultural Revolution, with verve, precision, and clarity, he explains what critical theory is, where it came from, and how, over the past fifty years, it was used by the Left to conquer America. His real target, however, is much older, because critical theory is merely the latest iteration of Left ideology, inevitably corrosive and parasitical, conceived in the Enlightenment and birthed in 1789. And, no surprise, the fruit of the Left’s latest conquest has been the same as always—the extreme degradation of a decent, productive society." . . .

A prescient work by a man whose work has never lost relevance. Of technology, and alienation, and the choices we face. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/07/10/the-glass-bees-ernst-junger/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "The Glass Bees, a novel by the crucial Ernst Jünger, is not directly a political work. The focus here is the relation of man to technology, especially the resulting alienation of man, not from the fruits of his labor, but from his grounding in the real. At first, this seems very different from the focus in Jünger’s “tyranny trilogy” of The Forest Passage, Eumeswil, and The Marble Cliffs (or tetralogy, if you include Heliopolis, still not translated into English). Jünger’s constant focus, however, in all these works, although with different emphases, is how a man should govern himself, regardless of the forces that push and pull him. And in these desiccated and atomized days, such a call to individual action is more needed than ever." . . .

Yet another work by the peerless Carl Schmitt, as usual with direct application to our situation today. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/06/01/legality-and-legitimacy-carl-schmitt/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "It is frequently said, and it is entirely true, that the Regime which rules us is illegitimate. But what does that precisely mean? No surprise, Carl Schmitt lights the way to an answer, in one of his lesser-known works, Legality and Legitimacy. This book should be more talked about—it was published in Berlin in 1932, when and where everyone knew that matters could not continue as they were, and that dramatic change was sure to come. As with the Germans of 1932, so with the Americans of 2023. Thus, studying and reflecting on this work is worth the effort." . . .

From 2017, written before we were defeated in Afghanistan, my then-current thoughts on Afghanistan, through the lens of a dubiously-reliable war memoir. The written, original version of this article can be found at: https://theworthyhouse.com/2017/12/07/book-review-red-platoon-a-true-story-of-american-valor-clinton-romesha/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "Americans have always liked fighting stories: autobiographical and third person, fictional and non-fictional. From dime novels about outlaws and Indians to, more recently, war movies, Americans have vicariously enjoyed American combat, and American successes in combat. There are even meta fighting stories: an organizing frame of Clint Eastwood’s movie Unforgiven is a biographer trailing Eastwood’s character to write a dime novel. As far as the recent Afghanistan and Iraq wars, early movies (i.e., under Bush) were mostly high-profile flops attacking America (Rendition; Lions for Lambs). Later movies (i.e., under Obama, where it was no longer regarded as necessary by those controlling the film industry to attack Bush rather than make profits) included some such, but moved toward depicting American heroism (Lone Survivor; American Sniper). Not incidentally, those two latter movies were based on autobiographical books, rather than the fever dreams of Hollywood leftists, and this book, Clinton Romesha’s Red Platoon, falls squarely into that genre." . . .

On a classic introductory work on Eastern Orthodoxy, with thoughts on Orthodoxy's relation to the West, especially the Crusades, and to the modern Turks. (The written version of this review was first published August 18, 2018. Written versions are available here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/08/18/book-review-orthodox-church-introduction-eastern-christianity-timothy-ware/) We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site, https://www.theworthyhouse.com, and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email. This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "As I and my family continue our inevitable pivot toward Orthodoxy, I have been reading more works on, you guessed it, Orthodoxy. This book, by the English theologian Timothy Ware, who as a bishop uses the baptismal name Kallistos, is a classic introduction to Orthodoxy. It was first published in 1963 but has more recently been revised, so it is fully up to date on history—and doctrine has not changed in Orthodoxy since 1963, or 963, for that matter. I’ve actually owned the book for several years, but have only now read it, having been told by several people that it is very much worth reading. And they were right—it is an excellent book." . . .

Thoughts on Space Rome, and also an expansion of my analysis of our own conquest of Space. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/05/04/red-rising-pierce-brown/ and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). " 'I would have lived in peace, but my enemies brought me war.' This is the attention-grabbing opening line of Red Rising, the first book in a popular young-adult science fiction trilogy, published between 2014 and 2016. The author, Pierce Brown, aims to draw Space Rome in roughly A.D. 3000. Within these books (the other two are Golden Son and Morning Star, and I read all three) are themes that could be fascinating, of hierarchy and oppression, of love and war, of duty and honor, of the price a man will pay to make his dreams real, of how our future should be organized. But, sadly, it’s all downhill after the first line, straight into the pit." . . .

How narrative control enables the Regime to rule us, and what can be done about it. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/04/28/the-revolt-of-the-public-and-the-crisis-of-authority-in-the-new-millennium-martin-gurri/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Video podcasts identical to YT are also available at Odysee and at Rumble: https://odysee.com/@TheWorthyHouse https://rumble.com/c/c-1747695 Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "As our ruling class drives the West into the ditch, from which a reborn society will probably emerge, but they and their rule will certainly not, it is natural for us to focus on elite theory—that is, who rules? This is an ancient question, although how the question is analyzed has changed with the rise of modern industrial societies. Unsurprisingly, much ink, from James Burnham to Neema Parvini, has been spilled on this important topic. Martin Gurri’s The Revolt of the Public continues the analysis, but he asks not who rules, but how they maintain their rule, and if those mechanisms will continue." . . .

Thoughts on the practical effects and social impact of small-scale agriculture, along with thoughts on large-scale agriculture and fat people. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/04/12/the-market-gardener-a-successful-growers-handbook-for-small-scale-organic-farming-jean-martin-fortier/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "My barn has a split personality. On one side, you may not be surprised to learn, dusty in the gloom, carefully organized and stacked, are defensive implements of war, slumbering until the day of judgment. On the other side are implements of agriculture, for I also aspire, in the now, to be a peaceful gentleman farmer. That is, not a profit-making farmer, or even a farmer who sells anything, but someone who enjoys being outdoors and learning how to grow plants and husband animals (and bees). As I expand from simple garden plots to acre-plus growing,, I turned to this book to expand my knowledge. I got what I was looking for, and I also was inspired to think about two closely-related topics: modern farming practices and fat people." . . .

From 2018, through the lens of a classic work of applied politics, thoughts on coups (which have not happened, nor did I predict them), and on social media's role in enforcing global rule of the Left (which I did predict, and which has most definitely happened). The written version of this review was first published August 27, 2018. Written versions are available here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/08/27/book-review-coup-detat-practical-handbook-edward-luttwak/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "Given that zombie survival manuals and similar how-to books are today all the rage, on sale at every Costco, Edward Luttwak’s 'Coup d’État: A Practical Handbook' seems like a selection from the same genre. Namely, of somewhat jokey books that purport to tell you what to do in a strange, disastrous situation, while effectively acknowledging that if you do end up being chased by zombies, hurriedly turning to the index, finding the entry “When Being Pursued,” then scrambling to locate page 102, isn’t probably the best tactic for survival. But instead, this book is the real thing, I think—an actual practical handbook on how to overthrow the state. More precisely, how to overthrow a weak state, a banana republic, though I will give some thought to relevance in the modern American context." . . .

Phillip Bobbitt's interpretation of Machiavelli's world view and attempted synthesis of his works, along with the unlikely use of Machiavelli to claim virtue for the the modern neoliberal, consumerist state. (The written version of this review was first published August 23 2018. Written versions are available here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/08/23/book-review-garments-court-palace-machiavelli-world-made-philip-bobbitt/) We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "Philip Bobbitt is best known for his earlier work 'The Shield of Achilles,' a thousand-page work tracing the development of the modern state. This book, 'The Garments of Court and Palace,' focuses more narrowly on the inception of the modern state, through the prism of Niccolò Machiavelli’s writings. At the same time it claims to be a new interpretation and synthesis of Machiavelli’s thought, rejecting many widely held beliefs about it, including that he denied the importance of virtue and morality in politics. Bobbitt posits that Machiavelli instead had a specific conception of virtue, and he wrote with a precise constitutional purpose: he was the midwife of the European princely state, superseding the feudal state, and therefore the herald of the modern Western state, in all its versions." . . .

My thoughts on a very important new book, a jeremiad against the destruction wrought by so-called feminism. This is the audio narration version of my review of the Mary Harrington's "Feminism Against Progress," published in the journal IM-1776. The written version of this review can be found here: https://im1776.com/2023/04/11/feminism-against-progress-review/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "Reality, like God, will not be mocked. This is the core message of Mary Harrington’s excellent new work, Feminism Against Progress. In challenging and compelling fashion, Harrington shows how so-called feminism destroys women, body and soul. Unhinged worship of unfettered autonomy, the core demand of an insane ideology falsely sold as progress, powers this destruction. True enough, but Harrington’s aim is not mere complaint. Rather it is to tell us that both women and men can truly flourish, even in this age of liquid modernity, by building a new system — one informed by the wisdom, not of the 1950s, but of the pre-industrial age." . . .

From 2018, one of several then-current books about the impending end of democracy; although this one is less through a Trumpian lens, and thus has not dated as badly as others. With bonus references to Skynet as a possible destructor! The written version of this review was first published August 29, 2018. Written versions are available here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/08/29/book-review-democracy-ends-david-runciman/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "In the past year, several high-profile books have been published that purport to analyze the future of democracy. All are reactions, and not positive reactions, to the election of Donald Trump. All are written by people of the Left, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are either wrong or bad, although there is certainly a very strong correlation between being Left and being both wrong and bad. As part of my own analysis of a future Reaction, of which the death or massive alteration of so-called liberal democracy is a necessary part, I am slogging through these books (and also doing so in order that you may avoid doing so). How far I will get through the stack I am not sure, but I did get through this book, David Runciman’s 'How Democracy Ends.' " . . . .

The prolific Peter Turchin offers another attempt to quantify and mathematize history. It's not bad, and it's fairly interesting, but it's not nearly as successful as his more famous "Ages of Discord." The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/04/20/ultrasociety-how-10000-years-of-war-made-humans-the-greatest-cooperators-on-earth-peter-turchin/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "Peter Turchin leads a recent academic movement to quantify and mathematize human history. That is, instead of analyzing history thematically, or engaging in broad analysis of happenings and trends, he aims to use processed data to prove hypothesized truths about our collective past. Turchin calls this new science cliodynamics (after the Muse of history), and I thought this effort was largely successful in his 'Ages of Discord,' in which the focus was cycles of stability and instability. I think the effort much less successful in 'Ultrasociety,' which tries to explain all of human history as inevitable cultural evolution towards cooperation, but still, it’s an interesting, if bumpy, ride."

Not so much of Rhodesia, but about future possibilities of violence, and of the potential rise of armed patronage networks as a societal organizing device. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/03/29/rhodesian-s-a-s-combat-manual/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "It is common on the Right today to have conversations which five or ten years ago would have seemed insane. Notable among such discussions are those relating to violence in conditions of societal fluidity. Of late, for me, talk tends to coalesce around possible future instantiations of a social device of ancient lineage, to which I have given the new name of “armed patronage network.” A new name, for in the West the APN would be a new thing, or more precisely a new old thing. I have earlier talked briefly about APNs, but today, we will explore exactly how APNs might arise, and what that means for you." . . .

Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We," from 1921, is the original dystopia that spawned all other twentieth-century dystopias portrayed in literature. Despite being the oldest dystopia, it is in some ways the most relevant one for today, more so than the more famous "1984" and "Brave New World." Yet its most crucial lesson is almost always ignored. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/04/23/we-yevgeny-zamyatin/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "Yevgeny Zamyatin’s 'We,'written in 1921, is the ur-dystopia of all modern dystopias. True, Aldous Huxley’s 'Brave New World' and George Orwell’s '1984,' both of which this book influenced, get more attention today. In fact, it is nearly a cliché, at least on the Right, that we are heading to some combination of the two, the only question being which our future society will resemble more, if we do not first overthrow the lords of the present age. That is as it may be, but Zamyatin’s novel offers a third future, certainly a future more to the liking of today’s ruling class than either of those other futures. And, crucially, its story ends with a lesson lacking in those other books, even though that lesson is, it appears, universally ignored by those who discuss this book." . . .

The original Man of Destiny, a possible template for our own future Man of Destiny. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/09/07/book-review-napoleon-life-andrew-roberts/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "For some time now, I have been claiming that what we are likely to get, and probably need, whether we like it or not, is a Man of Destiny. The original man called that was, of course, Napoleon Bonaparte. Neither my claim nor Napoleon is popular nowadays. We have gotten used to hearing that individual men don’t matter—that history is instead, take your pick, a matter of struggle for economic advantage, or of the opinions and actions of the masses, or of blind and random fate, or of group politics of one type or another. This book, Andrew Roberts’s generally positive take on Napoleon, shows the falsehood of those claims, and proves that what matters is men. Not men in general, but a tiny subset of men who make, and have always made, the world what it is, and what it will be, good and bad." . . .

For Lent, a turn from politics toward the history and theology of ten men who formed Christianity. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/03/23/the-holy-fire-the-story-of-the-fathers-of-the-eastern-church-robert-payne/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "It’s Lent, so let’s spend a little time away from politics. The Holy Fire, first published in 1957, when Eastern Orthodoxy had zero presence in the religious consciousness of most of America, is a beautifully-written popular history of ten towering eastern Fathers of the Church. Popular history in 1957 is not comparable to popular history in 2023, however, so this book reads like what might be an advanced college text today, if colleges studied anything worthwhile. Regardless, Payne’s book is an outstanding introduction to Orthodoxy in historical context, which is, no doubt, why St. Vladimir’s Press republished it." . . .

Among other things, how to execute a conspiracy to overthrow a regime, from five hundred years ago. (This article was first published December 10, 2017.) The written, original version of this article can be found at: https://theworthyhouse.com/2017/12/10/book-review-discourses-on-livyniccolo-machiavelli/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "Niccolò Machiavelli is known today for two things: the adjective “Machiavellian,” and the book from which that adjective is derived, The Prince, which provides advice for monarchs who accede to power. But Machiavelli wrote more than one book, and his second-most-famous book is this one, Discourses on Livy. In it, he provides advice for the founding, structuring, governing, and maintenance of republics, along with advice to individuals holding power, and a good bit of practical military advice. All this he extracts primarily from the extant writings of the historian Livy (64 B.C.– A.D. 12) on early Roman history, although he also brings in much other matter, including his own personal experiences and then-current events (Machiavelli wrote Discourses about 1517). Thus, this book is part history, part mirror of princes, and part advice to those holding power in a republic on how not to get killed." . . .

A detailed political history of the events surrounding the end of the Roman Republic. The written version of this article can be found here: We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "In our failing American Republic, Julius Caesar is, for many, a condensed symbol. He stands in for everything that might bring a final, formal end to institutions already dead, and he hints at what and who may open the door to something new. This broad symbolism derived from Caesar’s meteoric career, however, means that all the many details about what he actually did tend to get ignored, as do the other players in the complex political whirl of the 40s B.C. What results is, too often, comic book history, which usually is offered to buttress some facile claim about what is happening today. Lucca Fezzi’s book helps us look deeper; he offers us a detailed, balanced, and narrowly-focused political history of the end of the Republic." . . .

A 1930s travelogue that is interesting both for its history and for its applications to the present moment. (This article was first published December 19, 2017.) The written, original version of this article can be found at https://theworthyhouse.com/2017/12/19/book-review-mormon-countrywallace-stegner/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site: https://www.theworthyhouse.com and to subscribe for email notifications of new posts. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. You can subscribe for email notifications here: https://theworthyhouse.com/subscribe-by-email Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse https://gab.com/TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "Wallace Stegner, writer about the American West, is famous mostly for his novel Angle of Repose. This book is not famous, but it is worth reading. Mormon Country is a travelogue centered on the areas settled by the Mormons—basically Utah, of course, but also parts of Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, and New Mexico. It is not a book about Mormons, though they appear prominently; it is about the country, as it was in the 1930s. Stegner did not write this book to make a point. There is no ideological overlay, and Stegner is neither pushing nor denigrating Mormonism. He was not Mormon, but he respects them and their culture. Mormon Country draws a picture of the area and its history, as of the time of writing, and offers intriguing tales (many of which have modern postscripts)." . . .