It is hard to believe this book was published in 1979--it is a throwback to a time when culture meant something other than the latest dress featured on "Sex and the City." This cranky book (really, just a stitched together collection of past articles) has a little bit of everything: (1) a good introduction to the philosophy of the East and its beneficial and baleful influence on Christianity; (2) a sketch of modernism in poetry and literature and the pernicious influence of Keats and Arnold; (3) a description of the intersection of freedom, justice, crime and punishment; (4) the disaster resulting from the loss of a classical education (and how Joyce, as being at least "half educated" has pulled the wool over the eyes of the rest of us who are merely "quarter educated"; and (5) a traditional defense of Catholicism as represented in the writings of Newman and the scholastics. Be warned: This is hard-core catholic writing that has the old take-no-prisoners tang to it. A delight to read. Highly recommended (and short, at a mere 175 pages).