In March of 1943, Ensign James Reed was among a group of transient naval officers bound for combat assignments in the Pacific Theater aboard the USS Rochambeau, a French ocean liner converted to troop transport. The officers were quartered three or four to a stateroom and spent their time discussing world affairs. Ensign Reed was […]

I find the best way to understand an author I admire is to read their short stories, generally their first ventures into literature when they are mastering their craft.  Certainly this is true of Tolstoy, in his novella ‘The Cossacks’ and his sketches of the Crimean War, which gave him, according to an unidentified editor, […]

Reading Herodotus is fun because he traveled all over the ancient world – Persia, Scythia, Egypt, Greece, and Italy. He famously wrote about the Persian Wars from accounts he heard from the men who fought in them and he is known as the father of history. But as he traveled, he was told the tales […]

So much of what we know of ancient Egypt we learn from tombs and inscriptions and grave goods, so we tend to think of them as fixated on the afterlife, but far from just slaving away on pyramids and giant statues to honor the dead, the ancient Egyptians knew how to have a good time […]

For those who want to know what it was like to fight in the American Civil War, one of the best sources are the writings of Ambrose Bierce. Bierce saw action in major engagements including Shiloh and Chickamauga, and his position as a topographical engineer gave him an informed perspective on the battles and troop […]

I’ve just been enraptured, yet again, on my  third reading of ‘The Ways of White Folks’ by Langston Hughes. I would like to see this book taught in every high school in America because it can truly advance our national conversation about race — and it was written in 1933! Every story in this collection […]

Russell Banks’ novel Foregone is rocking the bestseller list, and I’m sure the literary world is waiting with bated breath to hear a review from his former son-n-law, blogger Stephen Hartshorne. I won’t keep you in suspense any longer; this is a great book, both for the “deep meaning” readers and the “great story” readers.  […]

Took a trip to School Street in Dedham, Mass., where I failed to grow up.  On the corner is the bicycle shop that everyone said was a bookie joint, though I don’t know of anyone who ever got a bet down.   I went over to Dave Dethlefs house to see what he was up […]