The Remnant

Reading this recent online Abbeville Institute essay, The Southern Remnant, prompted some nostalgic reflections and reminiscing regarding the strategic concept of the Remnant as applied to social change and the dissimulation and implementation of ideas.  This idea of the “Remnant” came from the classic essay, Isaiah’s Job, by one of my favorite authors for almost fifty years, Albert Jay Nock. Along with his contemporary, H. L. Mencken I have shelves of their original works and first edition collections of essays. It has been an expensive investment for a lifetime, and not a mere capricious hobby. Fortunately for new readers many of their works are now available online.

Albert Jay Nock was one of our most distinctive and distinguished prose stylists, whether in his splendid essays or intriguing biographies. As his good friend and libertarian colleague H. L. Mencken observed: “Thinking in English he thinks in charming rhythm. There is never any cacophony in his sentences as there is never any muddling in his ideas. It is accurate, it is well-ordered, and above all, it is charming.” For almost fifty years Albert Jay Nock has been a decisive and seminal influence in my life and intellectual world-view. I hope he will become one in your life too.

Share

1:18 am on November 12, 2020