This newsletter is a fiercely independent and iconoclastic look at the many domains, forces and trends shaping our 21st century world. My goal is to provide deep, unique insights to help conservatives and communities successfully adapt to the 21st century world.
I look both broadly and deeply to provide big picture frameworks for understanding the world, as well as tools to help you and your institutions and communities navigate the future. This is “news you can use.” Key topics include:
Christianity in America, such as my look at the three worlds of evangelicalism in First Things magazine that explains the turmoil and disintegration in that movement.
Men’s issues, including the growing failures of men in modern society, and why they are turning to online gurus and political movements instead of the traditional institutions of society.
Social, cultural, and economic transformations that have radically altered the world in ways few people understand, such as the fall of the WASP establishment and the managerial revolution.
Restoring prosperity, especially rethinking the economic dogmas that too long shaped conservative thought.
Creating successful places, with a particular focus on the cities of the American heartland.
I challenge myself every day to provide analysis you can’t get anywhere else about the biggest topics of the today. As Rod Dreher put it, “Renn is asking some of the most important questions of our time.”
Who Am I?
I am Aaron Renn, a writer and consultant in Indianapolis who is a co-founder and Senior Fellow at American Reformer. I’m the author of the book Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture.
I had a first career in management and technology consulting advising major corporations as a Partner at Accenture. I then had a second career in urban policy as a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Today my focus is on helping conservatives and the American church rise to the challenge of finding success in the 21st century.
My work has appeared in a number of leading global publications, including The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and others. I have been frequently cited in many publications around the world.
My core values are: honesty, fairness, independence, rigor, excellence, and authenticity.
My guiding principles are:
Live not by lies
Build up don’t just tear down
Have skin in the game
Provide serious, compelling insight people can’t get anywhere else
Pay it forward by helping younger or less prominent voices build an audience
What You Get and Why You Should Subscribe
By signing up, you’ll get extensive free content. This includes my monthly, in-depth newsletter taking a deep dive into a critical topic, such as the transformation of the household, how to respond to failing institutions, or divorce. There’s also a weekly digest with a roundup of my work as well as the best links from around the web, as well as other occasional free posts.
Also free is my podcast (Apple, Google, or YouTube), with both short monologues and in-depth interviews.
For only $10/month, you can become a paid Subscriber and get access to exclusive posts, transcripts of my podcast and interviews, and the ability of posting comments here.
You can also join my Member community. For just $50/month you will automatically get all Subscriber benefits, plus access to my Member community through our private Slack group. You will also get two interactive Zoom sessions per month where you can get a behind the scenes look at what I am doing and hear more personal, candid takes than I am able to post publicly.
You can become a Member today on Patreon or Gumroad.
What Readers Are Saying
These are snippets of just some of the many positive emails I’ve received over the years:
“There just aren't that many people who are writing the sorts of things you are, and it's incredibly important. So please keep it up.”
“I love your posts. So well thought out, investigated and with fresh perspectives.”
“I can honestly say that it has helped me get my life back on track in many different areas.”
“Your newsletter have been a joy to read and I look forward to setting time to read them beginning to end and giving each the attention it deserved. “
“You’ve been more thought provoking than most things I’ve read in the past few years. I’ve forwarded your emails to lots of my friends in ministry.”
“I can’t begin to say how grateful I am for the time, energy, care, and quality that you put into the newsletter.”
“Aaron - I LOVE LOVE LOVE your emails! “
