Book Review
In Code
The politics of the times cry out for a poet of the political process. Maryann Corbett’s thirty-four years working for the Minnesota legislature—helping to make government more of the people than by the attorneys—steeps her poetry...
Book Review
The Marble Bed
She is the author of eight collections of poetry and a memoir, and the long arc of Grace Schulman’s stellar writing career reminds us of the labor involved in a single poem, never finished, still in need of a little fiddling. A member...
Book Review
The Story of Gardening
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...
Book Review
Witch Hunt
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...
Book Review
The United States of War
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...
Book Review
Seeing Clearly
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...
Book Review
The Hidden Half
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...
Book Review
My Name Is Immigrant
Call me Immigrant. In your country, I do the essential work to keep your living standards high, even as you jeer at me and pay me nowhere near the same dollars you do to your exalted citizens, for the same work. Of late, I am coming into...