Janusz Bardach’s Man Is Wolf To Man: Surviving The Gulag ranks among the best prison-camp memoirs of the Second World War era. As an epic of suffering and survival, it makes an excellent companion to Siegfried Knappe’s Soldat: Reflections Of A German Soldier, 1936-1949, another dark chronicle of a dark era.
Why You Shouldn’t “Stay In Your Lane” (Podcast)
So-called “experts” and pundits will always try to pigeon-hole you. They will try to categorize you as they see fit, in order to make themselves feel good. If you are pursuing your passions or mission, you’ll notice people trying to “put you in your place.” Some alleged “authority” will try to cut you down.
A Great Summary On The Importance Of “On Duties” In The Western Tradition
Here’s a very good paper from 2014 that discusses the importance of On Duties in the Western tradition.
It’s one of the best summaries out there, and I think readers will benefit from going through it. The writers call it a “core text for every curriculum.”
Petrarch Reflects On The Causes And Cures For His Depression
The Renaissance literary figure Petrarch met his fame and success with ambivalence. On the one hand it was the fulfillment of what he had worked for, but on the other, it left him with deep feelings of unease. These feelings eventually ripened into outright contempt for those who could not understand the origin of his malaise.
Wisdom, Intelligence, Education, And Leaving A Job
We deal with a few recent questions from readers. They are:
Brazil’s “Rubber Soldiers”: A Tale Of Courage And Woe
I had a chance yesterday to learn more about a strange and tragic incident in recent Brazilian history: the country’s so-called “rubber soldiers” (soldados na borracha) program of the Second World War. The story is almost totally unknown in the United States, and for this reason I thought it would be worthwhile to share some details about it here.
Some Wisdom From Chilon And Diogenes
Here are some sayings and stories taken from Diogenes Laertius’s Lives of the Philosophers. I’ve mentioned this book in a few previous articles here. Practical life advice, amusing anecdotes, and mischievous criticisms of famous names never lose their freshness or fail to bring a smile. Indeed, we often forget that one of the greatest lessons philosophy can teach us is a sense of humor about ourselves and most other worldly things.
Many Go To The Market-Place, But Few Seek The Crown At Olympia
Diogenes Laertius’s Lives of the Philosophers contains interesting stories and sayings of a great many ancient Greek sages, of whom most we would otherwise know almost nothing. My own well-worn copy of the book presented me recently with the wit and wisdom of Lyco, who is said to have lived from 299 to 225 B.C. The details about his life and legacy are found in V.4 of the Lives.
“Someone’s Lecturing Me On How To Be A Parent” (Podcast)
A reader is annoyed that someone is trying to tell him how he should approach and think about his parental responsibilities.
This person is appears to be crossing lines of decorum, but as often happens, I suspect there is more to the story here.
Mehmet II (The Conqueror) Takes Constantinople
Many decades before 1453 (the year Constantinople finally fell to the Ottoman Turks), the Byzantine “Empire” had become a sad parody of its former self. Mismanagement, bad leadership, and the inability of the old state to cope with the challenges of its strategic environment had fatally doomed it long before Ottoman cannon breached its walls.
Quintus Curtius 
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