Charles Haywood (The Worthy House)

My complete lessons on how to become rich through entrepreneurship. You're welcome. The written version of this article can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/02/20/on-entrepreneurial-success/ 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 am often asked how I achieved entrepreneurial success. That is, how I became, in the words of Edwin Arlington Robinson’s “Richard Cory,” “rich—yes, richer than a king.” (We can gloss over the ultimate fate of Cory in that poem, which will not be mine, even if sometimes I expect to also die with a gun in my hand.) Back in 2019, I discussed bits and pieces of my story in my thoughts on Daymond John’s Rise & Grind. Today I want to finish the tale, and probably of more interest to my readers, to offer my more-or-less complete thoughts on what it takes to become rich through starting a business." . . .

Of the views of German patriots in 1930s and 1940s Germany, through the prism of a once-famous book, and of what Allied "denazification" can teach us for future reference in the new world to come. The written version of this article can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/02/06/der-fragebogen-the-questionnaire-ernst-von-salomon/ 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). "Ernst von Salomon’s 'Der Fragebogen' is unique, a product of the refiner’s fire, a work forged in the cataclysm of mid-twentieth-century Europe. But this once-famous, now-obscure book, published only one time in English, and that seventy years ago, still holds within its pages knowledge about both the past and the future. As to the past, from this book we can learn something completely missing from modern discourse—the complex views of 1930s and 1940s German patriots. As to the future, we can learn something more practical—methods to, in a future dispensation, help us flush Left poison completely and permanently from our body politic." . . .

In which I excoriate Pope Francis as stupid and Pope Benedict as weak, and call for a wholesale purge within the Roman Catholic Church. (The written version of this review was first published March 30, 2018.) Written versions, in web and PDF formats, are available here: ttps://theworthyhouse.com/2018/03/30/book-review-change-church-pope-francis-future-catholicism-ross-douthat/) 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). "Ross Douthat has a job that is, I would guess, either enviable or unpleasant, depending on the day—that of being the only regular conservative contributor to the New York Times. A frequent focus of Douthat’s is that most counter-cultural of doctrines, orthodox Roman Catholicism. If you want to suffer, you need only visit the comments section in the Times for any Douthat column, especially one on Catholicism. Exposing yourself to the firehose of bile and stupidity there will show you what Purgatory will be like, although perhaps Purgatory will be an improvement. Undaunted, Douthat now offers a full-length book on the changes being brought about by Pope Francis." . . .

Charles Haywood appears on Tucker Carlson Today. This is the complete video, first appearing last September. We talk about a great deal, from Foundationalism to farming, and whether I am related to the Communist Big Bill Haywood. 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

A story of achievement and accomplishment, gripping in every detail, which highlights how far we have fallen from greatness. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/05/10/empires-of-the-sky-zeppelins-airplanes-and-two-mens-epic-duel-to-rule-the-world-alexander-rose/ 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). "Nothing is accomplished by our society today. That little which seems like accomplishment is merely the sating of useless consumerist desires and the serving up of mental frippery and degradation. Apple is valued at trillions of dollars; that fact says all you need to know. Even something that could be thought an accomplishment, such as the rapid creation of vaccines to help counter the modest damage directly inflicted by the Wuhan Plague, is of dubious real value, and is moreover lost in wholly justified suspicion of our rulers. We have collectively marched, or been marched, into the dead end of a box canyon, and we hear the water rushing toward us. Not so long ago, however, as this book shows, the West was a civilization on the arc to glory. Maybe we can be again." . . .

And now for something completely different, an eighty-year-old work about medieval philosophies. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/09/08/book-review-reason-revelation-middle-ages-etienne-gilson/ 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: https://odysee.com/@TheWorthyHouse This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "Etienne Gilson is one of those men who shot across the sky of the West in the first half of the twentieth century, and were mostly forgotten by the end of the century, thrown overboard in the general wreck of Christendom. He combined in his thought any number of now-unfashionable currents: a love for Roman Catholicism and high medievalism; a focus on Thomistic thought; a dislike for the downsides of the modern world; and many more. No wonder he has slipped from our memory, or more accurately, been erased by neglect. But, as with other thinkers from his vanished time, from Carl Schmitt to Henri de Lubac, there are signs his star is rising again (though to some it is a baleful star), so I am here to summarize a little of his thought." . . .

The early life of Oliver Cromwell, and his rise to prominence during the English Civil War—of a man both godly and wily, and the type of man who rises from obscurity in the hour of need. A written version of this article can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/01/16/the-making-of-oliver-cromwell-ronald-hutton/. This review first appeared in Chronicles magazine, which you should read, and to which you should subscribe. 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). "If you know anything about Oliver Cromwell—and few do nowadays— you probably have an opinion about the man. Some vilify him; “A curse upon you, Oliver Cromwell, you who raped our Motherland,” the Irish rock band The Pogues sang. Others praise him as an enemy of arbitrary rule and a proto-republican. Ronald Hutton’s new biography of Cromwell’s early life and his climb to prominence makes no final judgment on the man, but it does offer a nuanced view of this complex historical figure. From Hutton’s excellent book we get not just history but the realization, in this desiccated age, that men such as Cromwell always emerge during great turmoil, rising as if from sown dragon’s teeth." . . .

The insane, yet weirdly compelling and with flashes of great insight, vision of the late Guillaume Faye, who wrote of combining the past and the future, while erasing the present. (This review was first published September 10, 2018.) The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/09/10/book-review-archeofuturism-european-visions-post-catastrophic-age-guillaume-faye/ 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). "I sometimes think of my project to pass Reaction through the refiner’s fire as beginning with the raw material of a simple stout tree, which has grown straight but has many branches. My task is to examine and prune those branches, and to plane down the tree to its core, creating a smooth and solid piece of wood, to which can be fitted a forged head—a lance of destiny, we can call it. This book, Guillaume Faye’s Archeofuturism, is one of those branches, and today we will lop it off, though perhaps some of its wood can be used to fuel the forging furnace. That said, this book is mostly insane. But not completely. And, if I am being honest, it prefigures, in part, my own preoccupation with a future that combines the politics of Reaction with the technology of tomorrow." . . .

Of the downsides, and a few upsides, of private equity and other financial engineering, viewed through the decline of Lancaster, Ohio, a condensed symbol of much that has gone wrong with America. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/05/10/empires-of-the-sky-zeppelins-airplanes-and-two-mens-epic-duel-to-rule-the-world-alexander-rose/ 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). "Private equity has made me rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Yet private equity can be, as this book shows, a tool of the devil, a corrosive and destructive force in American life. Still, I do not think the story is as simple as Brian Alexander, the author of Glass House, would have it. The town in which he grew up, and which he profiles here—Lancaster, Ohio—has fallen far from its glory days, as have hundreds of similar towns across America. But the responsibility for that lies not just with the shady private equity companies that looted its largest employer, glass manufacturer Anchor Hocking, or with other elements of our rotten ruling class. It also lies with all of us, who bear more than some responsibility for the degradation of our towns, and of ourselves." . . .

A discussion of the deeds of the ancient Jews, in the context of their wars with the Romans, and of Jews today, in Israel and here. The written version of this article can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2023/01/09/for-the-freedom-of-zion-the-great-revolt-of-jews-against-romans-a-d-66-74-guy-maclean-rogers/ 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). "Let’s talk about the Jews. No, not about how the Jews supposedly run the world (although there is some truth buried in that claim, to which we will return). I mean about the actual Jews, the past and present people who have been, arguably, more central to the story of mankind than any other people. This book, Guy MacLean Roger’s For the Freedom of Zion, exhaustively narrates the First Jewish-Roman War, A.D. 66–74, in which the Romans defeated a Jewish revolt, and during which the Romans destroyed the Second Temple. From it we can take both fascinating history and useful analysis for today." . . .

Of a forgotten book that precisely predicts our current American situation, and is a salutary reminder of the universal behavior of the Left. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/06/10/what-to-do-when-the-russians-come-a-survivors-guide-robert-conquest/ 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). "One fine day in April, 1945, a cousin of mine was shot by the Russians. His name was Félix Straszer. His crime? None, of course. In February, Stalin had conquered and occupied Budapest, overwhelming determined and heroic Hungarian and German resistance. Two dead Russian soldiers had been found in the street, so the Russians rounded up all the men from the nearby apartment houses, collected them in the Gamma Optical Instruments Factory, chose ten at random, and murdered them. As it turned out, the two soldiers had been killed by other Russian soldiers in a drunken brawl, but that didn’t help Félix Straszer." . . .

The dense-but-very-worthwhile thoughts of Carl Schmitt, preeminent political philosopher, on democracy, parliamentarianism, liberalism, and much more, all with notable application for us today. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/06/22/the-crisis-of-parliamentary-democracy-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 This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "Ah, Carl Schmitt, Carl Schmitt! No man like him exists today. Political philosophy in our time is, and for many decades past has been, largely the domain of intellectual pygmies and outright morons; the age of gold has degenerated into the age of brass, or of plastic with yellow paint. Schmitt is dead, but his work is not, and this, one of his series of books published during the early Weimar period in Germany, illuminates much of our own present condition. That’s not to say The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy is an easy read. Like much of Schmitt’s writing, it is somewhat elliptical, alternating great insight with moments of “where are we going with this?” But the payoff is worth the effort." . . .

The life of man who was once America's most famous poet, and of his work. (This article was first published October 17, 2017.) The written, original version of this article can be found at https://theworthyhouse.com/2017/10/17/book-review-edwin-arlington-robinson-a-poets-life-scott-donaldson 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 have zero creative talent. The pinnacle of my own ability to draw is stick figures, and not good ones. I cannot sing or play an instrument. I cannot write fiction. I do not understand iambic pentameter. Thus, I tend not to express any opinion about poetry, and I certainly don’t write any. But I have always liked the poetry of Edwin Arlington Robinson, which when I was young was still included in older anthologies of poetry. Whether they were directed at children or not I cannot say, but I read some of his poetry at around five years old, and it has stuck with me. I doubt very much if children, or adults, are exposed to him today, even though a hundred years ago he was the nation’s most famous poet. This biography, written ten years ago, is an excellent corrective to today’s ignorance." . . .

Hannah Arendt's semi-worthwhile thoughts on revolution, mostly superseded or proven wrong in the fifty years since, and written in an opaque and annoying style. (This review was first published September 13, 2018.) The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/09/13/book-review-revolution-hannah-arendt/ 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). "This is a book that rewards patience. The problem is, I am not a patient man, nor do I think that the reward here would be commensurate with the effort. Thus, I spent enough time, which was quite a bit, to grasp maybe half of this book. I think the rest escaped me. That’s partially my fault—but it’s also the author’s fault, since an elliptical writing style combined with frequent use of untranslated French phrases (even the educated don’t generally learn French anymore), along with scatterings of Greek, does not conduce to good communication. And aside from foreign languages, Arendt’s thought sometimes is so obscure as to be ethereal, an odd trait in a book that (in this edition) features a clenched fist on the cover, which is really not truth in advertising." . . .

Of Robert Gould Shaw, a man who was once the embodiment of heroism, and of what heroism means, and should mean, today. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/06/29/where-death-and-glory-meet-colonel-robert-gould-shaw-and-the-54th-massachusetts-infantry-russell-duncan/ 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). "I suspect that very few people under forty know who Robert Gould Shaw was. Those older may remember the 1989 film 'Glory,' which told his story. That movie could never be made today (and will probably soon be disappeared, as has been 1964’s 'Zulu'). After all, Shaw’s is an out-and-out “white savior” story, and now that everyone has been educated that the African reality is actually Wakanda, we realize that black people don’t need, and have never needed, a man such as Shaw. Yet even though the Left has racialized all of American life and shrieks ever louder for a race war (something I failed to predict, silly me), I will only touch lightly on race in this review, and will focus on heroism, the traditional center of Shaw’s story. To race, we will return another day." . . .

Ancient, yet precisely contemporary, thoughts and advice on the proper approach to both being rich and being poor. The written version of this article can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2022/12/28/on-wealth-and-poverty-saint-john-chrysostom/ 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 far back as I can remember, I wanted to be rich. I was not wealthy growing up, nor was anybody I knew. Today, however, as I state perhaps too often, I am rich. I bathe twice daily in French champagne and always cover my burgers in gold leaf. The problem is, as most everybody knows, that being rich sits very uneasily with Christian faith. At a minimum, being rich is a grave danger for a man’s soul. To gain insight into this problem, or maybe seeking reassurance, rather than rely on my personal interpretation of Scripture, which is worse than useless, I turned to one of the Fathers of the Church, Saint John Chrysostom." . . .

Why are the vast majority of Western reactions to the Wuhan Plague irrational? This classic work helps us understand. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/07/15/the-crowd-a-study-of-the-popular-mind-gustave-le-bon/ 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 eighteen months, I have been infinitely puzzled that most responses to the Wuhan Plague have been irrational. Lack of rationality dominates the discourse and actions of the majority, from individuals to governments. This irrationality has innumerable manifestations, the most obvious being belief in plain fictions, recently the made-up threat of the new “Delta variant,” no doubt not the last in a very long list of fairy tales. The irrationality shows itself in many other ways, both secular ones such as the total rejection of cost-benefit analysis, and quasi-religious ones such as belief in strange new gods, saints, and rituals. I have racked my head trying to understand this very strange phenomenon, and made no progress." . . .

What is freedom? Not in the philosophical sense; that's boring and done to death. Rather, what is freedom as something that emerges from lived reality, and how does it relate to human flourishing? Through the lens of Sebastian Junger's "Freedom," a modest book only modestly successful. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/07/05/freedom-sebastian-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 This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated). "This slim book, a companion of sorts to Sebastian Junger’s earlier book 'Tribe,' is about philosophy derived from life. Junger has made a career out of undergoing risks and hardships, then distilling his experience to insight based in reality. It doesn’t really work here, though; Freedom is too unfocused. It’s quite interesting in spots, but rambles and jumps around, even more than Junger’s earlier offerings. If you’re going to get anything substantial out of this book, you’ll have to do the heavy lifting yourself." . . .

It's always interesting to learn about the past, although we should not overrate the importance of justly-defeated peoples such as the Aztecs. But what is the limiting principle of moving mankind forward? The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/07/19/fifth-sun-a-new-history-of-the-aztecs-camilla-townsend/ 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). "I have long admired Hernán Cortes, conqueror of the Aztecs. He may not have gotten to Heaven, though who can say, but he exemplified the spirit of the West, that which from Charlemagne to Frémont drove the world forward. Fifth Sun would have us stop and shed a tear for the Aztecs, considering them on their own terms. It’s a modest request, and when done is modestly interesting. But we should remember that unlike the Spanish, the Aztecs never accomplished anything notable, and never would have accomplished anything notable. Which raises the question—what price glory?" . . .

An examination of lessons to be learned from the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, a time of ferment resembling ours, including the crucial lesson that great change is always a step function, not gradual. (This review was first published September 23, 2018.) The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/09/23/book-review-russian-revolution-new-history-sean-mcmeekin/ 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). "I am currently very focused on the ascent to power of Communism in Russia, not because it had anything to recommend it, but for the lessons it can teach us. Some of those lessons are ones the author of this book, Sean McMeekin, wants to impart—the dangers of left-wing ideology, primarily. Those are valuable lessons, certainly, but if we haven’t learned them after many decades of left-wing horror shows, we’re not going to learn them from this book. The lessons I am seeking, therefore, are more dynamic: how power can be grasped and used in fluid, chaotic situations, and by what kind of people. And those lessons are also on full display in this book, even if I did not learn any new ones." . . .

Of masculinity, and the masculine virtues, and their loss in the modern age. (This article was first published September 27, 2018.) The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/09/27/book-review-saboteur-aristocrat-became-frances-daring-anti-nazi-commando-paul-kix/ 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). "This is the story of a man—Robert de La Rouchefoucauld, scion of one of the oldest noble families in France, who lived from 1923 to 2012. He led a life in full; the focus of this book is his three years fighting against the Germans in France, as a résistant. It is a tale of bravery and derring-do, and it is gripping. But even more, it is terribly sad, because reading about this past makes us realize how masculinity and duty as exemplified by La Rouchefoucauld are no longer celebrated, but rather denigrated, to the detriment of all of us." . . .

An analysis of how economic competence and success drove the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War, accompanied, as always, by my own thoughts on what that means for us today. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/08/01/the-victorious-counterrevolution-the-nationalist-effort-in-the-spanish-civil-war-michael-seidman/ 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 goal is winning the future, and to win, we must utterly and permanently defeat the Left. In this effort, we can learn many lessons from Spain in the years from 1930 to 1940 (and in the years beyond, but that is a discussion for another day). These lessons are not just about war, or just about kinetic politics. As The Victorious Counterrevolution demonstrates, winning requires those who lead a struggle for dominance to maintain a functioning economy that satisfies the average man. Nobody can go hungry, and to avoid that, ample production, orderly markets, and fiscal stability must be maintained. It is to Nationalist success, and Republican failures, in these areas that Michael Seidman ascribes Franco’s victory, and he makes a compelling and instructive case." . . . .

James Burnham's classic work on power in politics. Perhaps too gnostic, but nonetheless with much insight into today, particularly with respect to "democratic totalitarianism," on full display in the present moment. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/08/14/the-machiavellians-defenders-of-freedom-james-burnham/ 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). "The American Right, like all outsider political movements, has long been susceptible to Gnosticism. This usually manifests as the belief that a small group of wise initiates can see through rationales for political action and find hidden knowledge, of the real reasons men and societies act as they do. Sometimes those reasons are the machinations of the Illuminati, or the Freemasons, or the Lizard Men. More often, they are prosaic, and although economic Gnosticism is the most frequent type, another common gnostic belief is that power is the only real driver of the actions of men, and all other rationales in politics mere epiphenomena, lies designed to conceal the hidden centrality of power. The Machiavellians is James Burnham’s exposition of this latter Gnosticism." . . .

My thoughts on political symbology, in particular that of Foundationalism, through the prism of this erudite book on European bears and their cultural history. The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/08/20/the-bear-history-of-a-fallen-king-michel-pastoureau/ 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). "Symbology is a key element of any successful modern political movement. Animals are rarely modern political symbols; certainly modern mass ideologies, from Communism to National Socialism, have eschewed such symbology. Living creatures, whose exalted metaphorical political use was once widespread, are now usually mere lowbrow holdovers from the more distant past—elephants and donkeys, for example. Yet America, when it was America, used the majestic bald eagle with great success, and I think that when we seize the future, we need outstanding symbology. In this light, I am working on the symbology of Foundationalism, and this interesting book helped me focus my thoughts." . . . .

This is the book that explains everything that matters at this moment. You must read it. Although I wrote this nearly five years ago, it has not aged a day, and remains, I think, one of my most useful articles. (This article was first published January 19, 2017.) The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2017/01/19/book-review-the-demon-in-democracy-ryszard-legutko/ 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). "There is a scene in Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks, in which a character comes across a book of philosophy (Schopenhauer) and realizes in a soaring epiphany that it contains the answers to all of life’s questions. For me, this book served much the same purpose—it explained to me why certain things are the way they are in the modern world. Although, sadly, it did not explain “all of life’s questions,” such as what is contained in Area 51. (I will also gloss over that the character in Mann’s novel quickly forgets the supposed answers and then drops dead of a tooth infection.)" . . . .