Franz Kafka and the Nightmare of Bureaucracy

Kafka took some early stabs at writing a novel, but none of them really worked out. In 1903, he started The Child and the City. He abandoned it, and the manuscripts have since disappeared. He tried to collaborate with Max Brod on a work called Richard and Samuel, but that didn’t work out either. The fragment “Wedding Preparations in the Country” was supposed to be much longer than it was, but he gave up on it. Therefore, when talking about Kafka’s novels, we always have to start with Amerika. Although like his other attempts it remains unfinished, enough of it exists for us to recognize it as a novel, and so it is here we begin.

The Man at 90 — A Tribute

Happily, the good don’t always die young. This Sunday, God willing, Stan “The Man” Musial, who was not only one of baseball’s greatest hitters but one of the nicest guys to ever wear cleats, will turn 90. He lives independently with Lillian, his bride of 71 years, in St. Louis where they are beloved.

Liberty Fund

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. The Foundation develops, supervises, and finances its own educational activities to foster thought and encourage discourse on enduring issues pertaining to liberty.

Obama, the Inattentive Student of Gandhi

On his recent trip to India, President Obama was lavish in his praise for Mahatma Gandhi. Obama maintained that Gandhi’s message of being “the change we seek in the world” was instrumental in inspiring his own journey from community organizer to President of the United States. “I might not be standing here today,” said the president, had it not been for the Great Soul’s influence.