Vermeer in Bosnia
If anyone asks you about the Why of art, especially in the face of atrocity or just its apparent impracticality—for … Continue Reading Vermeer in Bosnia
An Ancient Pilgrimage to Delphi
….While Tarquin was carrying out these undertakings a frightful portent appeared; a snake gliding out of a wooden column created … Continue Reading An Ancient Pilgrimage to Delphi
The Flaming Head at the Beginning of Ancient Rome
from Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita, Book 1 ch. 39, on the astounding events during the childhood of Servius Tullius: At that … Continue Reading The Flaming Head at the Beginning of Ancient Rome
Shelley’s Dried Heart Ended Up in a Box
from a recent article in the London Review of Books, on the nineteenth-century seaside community of Bournemouth, where many ill and … Continue Reading Shelley’s Dried Heart Ended Up in a Box
Happy Black Friday
For those who are out stampeding each other for flat-screen TVs, and for those forced to work so others can … Continue Reading Happy Black Friday
William H. McNeill – History as Myth
A few years ago, the great historian William H. McNeill died. I still have surprisingly endearing memories of reading his … Continue Reading William H. McNeill – History as Myth
Ship in Air
Here’s a nice anecdote told twice, first from some anonymous Irish source, and then Seamus Heaney’s version of it in … Continue Reading Ship in Air
Blindness, War & History
(this essay was originally published in the Fall, 2014 issue of the Concho River Review. Since it is no longer … Continue Reading Blindness, War & History
Week of the Bomb: Friday
What to make of any of these voices? This week’s posts—the words not of those protesting the bomb after, but … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Friday
Week of the Bomb: Thursday
Finally, voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When The New Yorker dedicated its entire August 31, 1946 issue to John Hersey’s … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Thursday
Week of the Bomb: Wednesday
Many of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project had families in Europe, or were refugees from Europe themselves, … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Wednesday
Week of the Bomb: Tuesday
Impossible decisions remain impossible, even after they’ve been made. Following on yesterday’s post, here are the voices of those scientists … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Tuesday
Week of the Bomb: Monday
With the anniversary of the Trinity Test just passed, and the anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this week, I realize the … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Monday
Walt Whitman’s Letter to Parents Whose Son Died in the Civil War
Washington August 10 1863 Mr and Mrs Haskell, Dear friends, I thought it would be soothing to you to have … Continue Reading Walt Whitman’s Letter to Parents Whose Son Died in the Civil War
The Past is Not Dead: There is Only Continuity
from Peter Ackroyd, at the end of his first volume of the history of England: Other forms of continuity are … Continue Reading The Past is Not Dead: There is Only Continuity
The Popular Press in 1918 was Garbage Too
From Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West, published just over a century ago. Our bad relationship with information and disinformation … Continue Reading The Popular Press in 1918 was Garbage Too
