Category Archives: History

Thomas Carlyle’s ‘Past & Present:’ How The Decline of the West Started Centuries Ago

The War on Beauty posted this 23-minute video. And writes in the description:

“Thomas Carlyle’s ‘Past and Present’ is one of the most unique books I have ever read. It is a prophetic look at the root causes of what was beginning to tear down the core of specifically English, but ultimately European, society. With growing atheism, idleness and Dilettantism, and mammon-worship, Europe went from Heroic and True to Un-Heroic and living in a “sham,” in just a few short centuries–a reality which is only just coming into full fruition now.”

See also: Thomas Carlyle for Beginners: Where to Start (35 minutes).

The Year 2100 and All That

Article by Gary North.

Excerpt:

We look around us and see trends. Some of these trends seem irreversible. But are they? They seem comprehensive. But are they? How much reliance should we place in them? Will they really shape our lives and the world we live in?

Almost 50 years ago, my professor Robert Nisbet wrote a classic article: “The Year 2000 and All That.” It was published in the Jewish intellectual magazine, Commentary, although it was in no way Jewish. 

Continue reading here.

The Gold Standard and the Great Depression

Article by Robert P. Murphy against the assertion that remaining on the gold standard prolonged the depression.

Quote:

Paul Krugman has concentrated his fire recently on those “thumping their chests” over the falling dollar. He has particular scorn for those recommending a return to the gold standard. In Krugman’s view, a simple look at the historical facts will show that it was a superstitious fetish for the yellow metal that prolonged the Great Depression.

A careful, comprehensive response to Krugman’s charges would involve an explanation of the classical gold standard, and the wonderful peace and prosperity it showered on the world. It was only after the major countries abandoned gold during World War I that major imbalances in international trade began to fester — imbalances that eventually exploded during the early 1930s. As a good capitalist pig, I point the reader to my book on the Depression for the full story.