A good neighbor

I didn't realize until this weekend when a friend brought it up that John O'Sullivan - author of a recently-released book that I absolutely have to read entitled The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister - lives just down the road in Decatur, Alabama.

O'Sullivan has had a remarkable career, having served as a special adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (yes, he, too, is a Brit), Editor-in-Chief of The National Interest magazine, and Editor-in-Chief of the United Press International. He is currently Editor-at-Large of National Review, and he frequently contributes to the magazine in both its print and online forms. His writing reflects his political conservatism, but it is conservative in tone and style, as well. I like that. This October 2005 article from the Decatur Daily gives a little background on how Mr. O'Sullivan came to reside in North Alabama.

O'Sullivan's latest book explores how President Reagan, Prime Minister Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II were instrumental - both individually and collectively - to the collapse of the Soviet empire and the fall of Communism throughout Europe. The world owes a great deal to these three great leaders for their courage and perseverance in facing down the great evil of their time, and gifted writers like Mr. O'Sullivan speak for freedom-lovers the world over in giving them the recognition they so richly deserve.