Beauty, history, and a shelf of murder mysteries.

The combination of a rich culture of death with the looming threat of catastrophe is an intoxicating mélange for the spirit, and it explains why so many great writers have been drawn to New Orleans.

Studies of U.S. wage and income inequality since 1980 have engendered the common wisdom that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. But is it really that simple?

Four hundred years after the battles of Lepanto on October 7, 1571, and Vienna on September 11-12, 1683, these dates still rankle in the jihadist mind. For it was through these battles that the navies and armies of the West threw back almost fatal attacks on their civilization. In 1571,...

While love and appreciation for wilderness is a good thing, it should not come at the expense of our own habitats.

Banking centers must offer their clients security; Dubai's banking sector could exist only because it was backed by an implicit security guarantee from the United States.

No environmental problem is more important than that posed by the degradation of our cities, and we must reflect on the factors that might prevent or reverse the decay that we are witnessing. In urban planning, civic leaders should think in terms of fostering beauty through the use of aesthetic constraints.

Michael Novak of AEI delivered the fourth of the 2008-2009 Bradley Lectures on December 8.