Paul Brian Heise has studied the works of Richard Wagner since 1971. While pursuing graduate studies in anthropology at Southern Illinois University, he developed an argument that Wagner’s works could be understood as an allegory and withdrew from formal studies to devote his life to discovering and sharing his wholesale reassessment of the meaning of Wagner’s dramas and their music. Heise has published extensively on Wagner, including The Wound That Will Never Heal: An Allegorical Interpretation of Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung (Academica Press, 2021), and, with the support of the late British philosopher Sir Roger Scruton, the website www.wagnerheim.com, an online compendium of Heise’s thoughts about Wagner.

Paul Brian Heise has studied the works of Richard Wagner since 1971. While pursuing graduate studies in anthropology at Southern Illinois University, he developed an argument that Wagner’s works could be understood as an allegory and withdrew from formal studies to devote his life to discovering and sharing his wholesale reassessment of the meaning of Wagner’s dramas and their music. Heise has published extensively on Wagner, including The Wound That Will Never Heal: An Allegorical Interpretation of Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung (Academica Press, 2021), and, with the support of the late British philosopher Sir Roger Scruton, the website www.wagnerheim.com, an online compendium of Heise’s thoughts about Wagner.

Bruce D. Abramson is Executive Director of New Student and Graduate Admissions at New College of Florida. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Columbia University, a J.D. from Georgetown University, and has served on the faculty of the University of Southern California and as a research adjunct at Carnegie Mellon University. He has spent decades as an independent troubleshooter, problem solver, economic analyst, and strategic consultant; published widely in the scholarly literature of computing, management, and law; and written over 250 columns on politics and public policy. His previous books have addressed technology policy, innovation law, Middle East politics, political philosophy, and the corruption of higher education.

Stuart Walton is a cultural historian, novelist, and critic based in southwest England. He is the author of An Excursion through Chaos (2021), Introducing Theodor Adorno (2018), In The Realm of the Senses: A Materialist Theory of Seeing and Feeling (2016), A Natural History of Human Emotions (2004), and Out Of It: A Cultural History of Intoxication (2001; 2016), as well as a number of books on food and drink.

Jarrod Tanny is Associate Professor of History and the Charles and Hannah Block Distinguished Scholar in Jewish History at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Born in Montreal, Canada, Tanny lived and breathed Seinfeld and Jewish humor long before making it part of his teaching and writing career. Having received his Ph.D. in Russian and Jewish History at the University of California at Berkeley, he embraced his East European Jewish ancestry and wrote a book called City of Rogues and Schnorrers, which examines how the city of Odessa, in today’s Ukraine, was mythologized as a Jewish “city of sin,” celebrated and vilified for its Jewish gangsters, pimps, bawdy musicians, and comedians. Odessa’s “Jewish” comedy drew him further into humor studies and he has published numerous essays on comedy and original satires. The Seinfeld Talmud combines Tanny’s love of Seinfeld with his knowledge of Jewish history and culture presented through the lens of parody. Had Seinfeld aired 1,500 years ago in the Middle East, the great rabbis of antiquity would not only have embraced the show, but would have made it a foundation of Judaic Law.

David Roman was born in Madrid in 1973. After a long career as a foreign correspondent with the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News, mostly in the Asia-Pacific region, he started work on Emperor Whisperers, his first non-fiction book. He is married with two children and currently lives in Washington, D.C.

Paul Krause is the editor-in-chief of VoegelinView. He was educated at Baldwin Wallace University, Yale Divinity School, and the University of Buckingham, where he studied with Sir Roger Scruton. His writings on the arts, classics, literature, politics, philosophy, and religion have appeared in numerous newspapers, magazines, and journals. He is the author of The Odyssey of Love and contributed to The College Lecture Today and Making Sense of Diseases and Disasters.

“Paul Krause has written a beautiful and accessible commentary on the Greeks, Romans, and Saint Augustine, illuminating the wisdom of the ancients for a contemporary audience. Rather than engaging in an anachronistic reading of these works, Krause uncover the enduring truths that these authors offer us today.”
– Lee Trepanier, Samford University

“Paul Krause is a wonderful communicator who encourages readers to lovingly appreciate the classics of Western literature regardless of the modern criticism leveled at such an endeavor. As Augustine told us to take up and read, Krause does the same by making this process an exercise in timelessness. This book is highly recommended to anyone seeking a deeper grasp of the enduring wisdom and rich texture of these seminal works of Western civilization.”
– Scott Meyer, George W. Truett Theological Seminary

“Paul Krause rightly notes that his book is intended to defend the classics against their increasingly ungrateful critics, but its real joy is in revisiting so many timeless works through his lens of love, which speaks to all of us.”
– Erich Prince, Editor of Merion West

“Paul Krause is a trustworthy guide to the enduring wisdom of the classics. His book orients readers to an ancient conversation about what it means to be human, the nature of the good life, and the shape of healthy human society. This is the ballast that can steady us as we engage in contemporary debates about these same questions”
– Jeffrey Bilbro, Grove City College

Nils A. Haug is a trial lawyer by profession and member of the International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, and a faculty member of Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Retired from law to focus on writing and teaching, his particular field of interest is the intersection of Western culture with political theory, philosophy, theology, English literature, ethics, and law. Dr. Haug holds various degrees including an M.A.(cum laude) in Biblical Studies and Ph.D. in Theology (Apologetics).

Monique Dixsaut is Professeur Honoraire at Panthéon-Sorbonne University. A
Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur, she is the author of several books on Plato and Nietzsche, including Plato-Nietzsche, Philosophy the Other Way (Academica, 2018), and new commentaries on Plato’s Statesman and Sophist, as well as numerous articles in academic journals and the leading French newspaper Le Monde.

Scott B. Nelson is Research and Strategy Advisor at the Austrian Economics Center and the Hayek Institute, in Vienna, Austria. He is the author of Tragedy and History: The German Influence on Raymond Aron’s Political Thought. Nelson holds a B.A. in Greek and Roman Studies from the University of Calgary, an M.A. in Advanced International Studies from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, and a doctorate from the University of Vienna.

Matthew Edwards is an analyst and consultant, based in Vienna, who focuses on security affairs, political risk, and international development. Prior to the private sector, he previously worked in the UK Civil Service, including for the UK Ministry of Defence. He has authored numerous articles, reports, and papers for government, business, and public audiences, including on themes such as resource politics, counterterrorism, and state and policy development, and has presented at conferences, workshops, and seminars. In addition to his M.A. in War Studies from King’s College, London, he has a B.A.(Hons.) in History from the University of York and is currently undertaking an MLitt in Viking Studies at the University of the Highlands and Islands.