An Irish family conflict sets the muse in motion for A. Shankland in "Beyond the Grail". Primogeniture a customary practice in rural Ireland whereby the eldest son could claim the right to inherit his father’s estate ignites avarice... Read More

During the summer of 2002, Colin Angus, a Canadian in his thirties, decided to make a statement about the overuse of fossil fuels and the urgency of climate change, and began planning the first ever human-powered circumnavigation of the... Read More

For two years now, Republicans have been labeling Barack Obama a liberal, and often a “far left” liberal. Paul Street’s critique of the Democratic presidential frontrunner comes not from the right but from the progressive left.... Read More

The sinking of the USS Indianapolis in the waning days of World War II, just after the ship delivered the components for the bomb that would later be dropped on Hiroshima, resulted in the loss of almost 900 sailors. The event has raised... Read More

Bob is using a bucket to empty a river into a bottle, and as one might guess, it isn’t going very well. The bucket is too small for the river, and too large for the neck of the bottle. Dan Vandon uses the story of “the Bottle, the... Read More

Commenting on a collection of reviews by John Simon, Richard Schickel notes that reviews are not meandering reflections but “consumer guidance” that must meet editorial demands of time and space. Schickel calls attention to Simon’s... Read More

When her Uncle Don said she ought to write a book about him, Terese Svoboda was skeptical. A published poet and novelist, Svoboda knew how tricky the publishing world could be, and her uncle’s story didn’t look promising at first... Read More

The British freetraders of the early nineteenth century imagined globalization—or the global colonialism that was then practiced by European states—as a great social panacea that would distribute the earth’s resources and promote... Read More