FROM THE MAGAZINE

December 2023

Spectator Editorial

The fight ahead

Will America’s leaders be up to the task of tackling the disinformation campaigns and rampant antisemitism plaguing the country?

By Spectator Editorial

From the Magazine

Diary

On the ground in Ashkelon

One of my goals in Israel was to find the stories that the international media was missing

By Julio Rosas

From the Magazine

Middle East

Is killing civilians ever justified?

Israel is killing large numbers of unarmed men, women and children as it tries to destroy Hamas

By Paul Wood

From the Magazine

Education

Hamas and retaking higher education

The cheerleading for Hamas on many campuses has precipitated a shattering moment of moral clarity

By Roger Kimball

From the Magazine

Politics

Unpacking the GOP’s red October

Matt Gaetz is content to watch the world burn — and he’ll keep all the rubies he can gather along the way

By Ben Domenech

From the Magazine

Middle East

The year’s horrors have left me speechless

I fear that the internet is driving me and everyone around me insane

By Bridget Phetasy

From the Magazine

Family

The world of future heirlooms

The nature of our here-today-gone-tomorrow culture is amplifying people’s innate desire for connection to things that are unchanging

By Teresa Mull

From the Magazine

Middle East

Israel’s imperial problem is ours, too

The country is facing today a dilemma that the West will face tomorrow

By Daniel McCarthy

From the Magazine

Education

How Harvard befriended Hamas

The roots of the elite university’s antisemitism and Nazi association run deep

By Ashley Rindsberg

From the Magazine

Media

A look inside Right Side Broadcasting Network

In the 2024 race, the popularity of RSBN among the MAGA faithful and Trump himself could revive the dynamics of 2016

By Aidan McLaughlin

From the Magazine

Health

The key to peace of mind? Repressing your feelings

Easier said than done, perhaps, as one thinker, Plutarch, acknowledged — but that’s life

By Peter Jones

From the Magazine

Business

Was 2023 the year of the labor union?

It’s been a good year for unions, without much help from Democrats

By Billy McMorris

From the Magazine

Policy

Why the post-Cold War era is far from over

Avoiding repetition of the errors that marred US policy in the recent past will require more than money

By Andrew Bacevich

From the Magazine

Politics

Facing the facts of the West

In the years to come, we will have to persuade rather than compel other nations

By Henry Olsen

From the Magazine

Europe

Poland and Hungary learn different lessons from history

The Polish elections offered another blow to a Polish-Hungarian relationship already fraying over the war in Ukraine

By Will Collins

From the Magazine

International

Indian Exodus: the Jewish population exits after 2,000 years

Many who left retain a deep affection for India, visit regularly and find the departure difficult to discuss

By Thomas Easton

From the Magazine

Internet

The promise and peril of Facebook Marketplace

The internet reduces the friction of finding something but increases the friction of attaining it

By Mary Kate Skehan

From the Magazine

Books + Arts

Books

The Spectator’s 2023 Books of the Year

Our writers weigh in

By The Spectator

From the Magazine

Books

Meeting Margaret Cavendish

The seventeenth-century philosopher and playwright was a trendsetting, quixotic genius

By Francesca Peacock

From the Magazine

Book Review

Britney Spears’s much-anticipated memoir is a desperate cry for help

Once again, America owes the singer an apology — just not for the reasons she suspects

By Mitchell Jackson

From the Magazine

Theater

The birth, death and rebirth of American Psycho: The Musical

In the year 2023, improbably as always, the musical proved a success

By Ross Anderson

From the Magazine

Film

Have we misunderstood David Fincher?

The director’s continuing ability to challenge, provoke and entertain is a marvel

By Alexander Larman

From the Magazine

Comics

Comic Con with a Shakespearean twist

‘Even when the story is dark, Superman still stands for something — and we need more good guys like that’

By William Newton

From the Magazine

Life

Life

The Spectator’s 2023 Holiday Gift Guide

The staff and writers help you stuff your stockings

By The Spectator

From the Magazine

Sports

Why America’s top TV networks are banking on English soccer

It sure seems like there are more red-blooded Americans patrolling our streets in Arsenal and Liverpool shirts these days

By Jack Holmes

From the Magazine

Life

The difference between children and tattoos

When did it become socially acceptable to discuss the state of another man’s testicles?

By Billy McMorris

From the Magazine

London Life

The decline of the stylish man

What’s happening on the London fashion front?

By Cosmo Landesman

From the Magazine

American Life

Revisiting Gettysburg

No filmmaker has explored the imaginative appeal of the Civil War in as much depth or from such diverse angles as Ron Maxwell

By Bill Kauffman

From the Magazine

Prejudices

The rebuilding of the Tower of Babel

Mass communication tends by its nature to the generation of propaganda

By Chilton Williamson, Jr.

From the Magazine

Place

Place

Exploring the forgotten towns of Green Bay

The tide is out living in cities — and who knows when it will come back in

By Jennifer Billock

From the Magazine

Place

Deck the halls at Rolf’s

Upon entering the restaurant, you’re instantly greeted with a sensory overload and the immediate need to bring tidings of comfort and joy

By Zack Christenson

From the Magazine

Food and Drink

Food

Baking mistakes: my Christmas clangers

There is something about the holiday that triggers overambition in occasional cookie-bakers like myself

By Jane Stannus

From the Magazine

Food

A cowboy Christmas

Life out west wasn’t easy, but a Christmas dinner always provided a needed respite

By Hannah Moore

From the Magazine

Drink

Cigars, steak and (alleged) corruption at Morton’s

I can think of worse places to spend a gold bar or two

By Andrew Bernard

From the Magazine

Food

Surviving the holidays with Alison Roman

Sweet Enough, written with non-bakers in mind, may well become your companion this December

By Mary Kate Skehan

From the Magazine

Drink

A very Sherry Christmas

It is the perfect mid-afternoon tipple: clean, light, delicate

By Roger Kimball

From the Magazine

And Finally

And Finally

In praise of Hallmark Christmas movies

There is not enough football on TV not to get drawn into the Countdown to Christmas

By Daniel Darling

From the Magazine

And Finally

Are we oversharing?

I was interested by the way ‘share’ has become just another synonym for ‘announce’

By Dot Wordsworth

From the Magazine