This is not the banal Hawai’i of tanned, smiling surfers and placid hula girls so popular with travel agents; instead, it is an island populated by a people, ancient in their culture, who are quickly being swallowed by the dual evils... Read More

The trick for any book is to get readers so engrossed that they stop noticing the form. Anyone immersed in a truly fine read probably isn’t thinking, “this story is told in flashback” or “interesting use of the unreliable... Read More

Galileo Galilei had three children with Marina Gamba, his mistress of twelve years. Because he never married Marina, his children were illegitimate. Galileo’s son Vincenzo was eventually legitimized by the Grand Duke Cosimo II; but his... Read More

In the first volume of their stunning biography of the French author Colette (published November, 1998), Francis and Gontier not only showed the sensuality, talent and wide-ranging life of the ultimate libertine, but also her weaknesses,... Read More