What a fabulous book! As Jeffrey says, the book is a bit slow to get started, as it describes Nock's unschooled childhood. Once it gets going, it's fascinating. Two chapters that I found particularly interesting were the one on men and women (because Nock was not constrained in what he wrote by any type of political correctness), and the final chapter where he discusses his impending death and why he is completely comfortable about it. When people look back over a whole lifetime, they can see changes which aren't apparent from day to day. Nock saw the educational system change in front of his eyes. His own education was classical, steeped in Latin and Greek, learning about human thought over the past five thousand years with the end-purpose of learning how to "see the world as it really is". He deplored the broadening of education to make it more inclusive. Nock dismisses the idea that universal literacy is an important goal. At first I found this startling, but he makes a strong case. Nock felt that Gresham's Law could be applied not only to money but to just about every aspect of life. Bad education (or even just bland education), for example, tends to drive out great education. Nock felt that Gresham's Law also applied to culture; that mass entertainment drives out quality entertainment. It's a long book, but it never got boring.
Buckley also became close to Frank Chodorov, providing him with financial support during Chodorov's last few years. Buckley also shared Chodorov's views on the rightness of Henry George's call for the public collection of land rent, although Buckley later when asked about this admitted that his conservative friends were unwilling to even consider this perspective.
Tolstoy was not just an anarchist, but another Georgist too. He was quite explicit about this in his later works. He was further "left" than Nock or Henry George himself though, and had a more socialist bent before becoming a disciple of George.
Been on my to read list for a long time...I' going to read it next week
What a fabulous book! As Jeffrey says, the book is a bit slow to get started, as it describes Nock's unschooled childhood. Once it gets going, it's fascinating.
Two chapters that I found particularly interesting were the one on men and women (because Nock was not constrained in what he wrote by any type of political correctness), and the final chapter where he discusses his impending death and why he is completely comfortable about it.
When people look back over a whole lifetime, they can see changes which aren't apparent from day to day. Nock saw the educational system change in front of his eyes. His own education was classical, steeped in Latin and Greek, learning about human thought over the past five thousand years with the end-purpose of learning how to "see the world as it really is". He deplored the broadening of education to make it more inclusive.
Nock dismisses the idea that universal literacy is an important goal. At first I found this startling, but he makes a strong case.
Nock felt that Gresham's Law could be applied not only to money but to just about every aspect of life. Bad education (or even just bland education), for example, tends to drive out great education. Nock felt that Gresham's Law also applied to culture; that mass entertainment drives out quality entertainment.
It's a long book, but it never got boring.
Buckley also became close to Frank Chodorov, providing him with financial support during Chodorov's last few years. Buckley also shared Chodorov's views on the rightness of Henry George's call for the public collection of land rent, although Buckley later when asked about this admitted that his conservative friends were unwilling to even consider this perspective.
Tolstoy was not just an anarchist, but another Georgist too. He was quite explicit about this in his later works. He was further "left" than Nock or Henry George himself though, and had a more socialist bent before becoming a disciple of George.