The New Individualist, May 2008

Vol. 3, No. 5

“Today, the last group one can expect to fight for capitalism is the capitalists.”

          —Ayn Rand, “The Moratorium on Brains”

              The Ayn Rand Letter, Vol. I, No. 3.

Contributors     

Editor’s Desk: Robert James Bidinotto

PRIVATE I

Two Cheers for “Corruption”

By Roger Donway

CRISS ON BUSINESS

Funding Bad Ideas is a Bad Idea

By Jack Criss

.:SELF EXPRESSIONS :.

The Two Faces of Capitalism

By Robert L. Bradley, Jr.

Before people damn businessmen, they ought to learn the difference between real capitalists and political capitalists.

.:FREE SPIRIT:.

TNI’s Interview with Author Diana West

By Jack Criss

Columnist and author Diana West blasts our culture of “perpetual adolescence” in a hot interview that draws upon her recent book The Death of the Grown-Up.

The Artist’s I: Jeff Larson’s Radical Perceptions

By Michael Newberry

Here’s a contemporary painter who weds dazzling technique with a sunlit sense of life, in compositions that ennoble our everyday world.

.:MAVERICKS:.

The Suicide of Reason. Radical Islam’s Threat to the West by Lee Harris

Reviewed by Bruce Thornton

In a disturbing new book, author Lee Harris—and our reviewer—wonder if a society of rational individualism may be intrinsically vulnerable to fanatics and thugs.

Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism by Jörg Guido Hülsmann

Reviewed by Edward W. Younkins

Many regard him as the greatest economist of the twentieth century, and this review of a comprehensive new biography of Ludwig von Mises marshals the evidence.

Lust: The Seven Deadly Sins by Simon Blackburn

Reviewed by Bradley Doucet

Is it a virtue or a vice? Bradley Doucet continues to explore books about “the seven deadly sins” in a review that’s sure to arouse you.

The Life and Times of Aristotle by Jim Whiting

Reviewed by Jack Criss

A brief but compelling biography introduces children to the man Dante called “the master of those who know.”

.:REEL  INDIVIDUALISM:.

There Will Be Blood

Film review by Robert L. Jones

This grim, epic fable of a capitalist “robber baron” won the Best Picture Oscar. But its potent artistry was put in service of a deeply flawed political message.

Americanizing Shelley

Film review by Robert L. Jones

A naïve immigrant girl seeks love by becoming superficially attractive—but finds her soul by learning what it really means to be an American.

Offside

Film review by Robert L. Jones

“Life” in modern-day Iran—especially life for its women—is cinematically skewered with a deft, light-hearted touch in this charming film.

.:SOLILOQUY:.

Rational Individualism Will Survive

By Robert James Bidinotto

Your Editor offers a friendly dissent to views expressed by two conservative writers in this issue—and explains to you, The Reader, why they are appearing in TNI.