As it controverts stereotypes regarding the formidability of villains and the fragility of senior citizens, Caroline B. Cooney’s mystery novel "Before She Was Helen" is a delight. Clemmie is a resident of Sun City, a retirees’... Read More

In Antoine Laurain’s acerbic cozy mystery The Readers’ Room, a debut novel makes waves among the Paris literati––and with two homicide detectives. Publishing darling Violaine Lepage is much admired for her impeccable taste and... Read More

In the hot Southern summer of "Even As We Breathe", the groundbreaking first novel from Cherokee writer Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, a young man’s loyalties and foundational stories are tested. WWII cleared the Carolina mountains of... Read More

Historically, to speak of gardening necessitates a subtle, but quite important, uncoupling from agriculture, summed up in the idea of beauty. From ancient myths to cave paintings and recorded literature, we know that the earliest... Read More

Why witches? What accounts for our Western fascination with women who hex and heal, summon demons and project power, eschew religion yet embrace religious iconography, live contentedly in darkness, anonymity, and seclusion? Most... Read More

The threat of war has long been the most persuasive tool of statesmanship, made the better if you occasionally back it up on the battlefield. Diplomacy has a place, yes, but the laws of the jungle are often the only rules that really... Read More

Of the many positive things to say about Buddhism, the most meaningful may be that Buddhists readily admit that life is very, very hard. By facing that fact head on, rather than denying or ignoring it, Buddhists can quickly get on with... Read More

While it is politically inconvenient at times, science is certainly real and deserving of respect. Not to say that science doesn’t deserve scrutiny. Like experts in other fields, scientists too often lack the humility to acknowledge... Read More