The title of this book about contemporary artist Kara Walker is reminiscent of Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison’s essay, “Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature,” which first appeared in Michigan... Read More

Most authors yearn for the Golden Age of publishing when the only imperative for a writer was to write. It was up to the publisher to edit, market, and promote the finished book. That is no longer so in this market-driven era, and this... Read More

“It felt like cold wind on a hot day,” ends the first poem in this collection, and such calm, understated Midwestern images are one of the poet’s signature notes. This book, winner of the John Ciardi prize for poetry, offers many... Read More

Brooding, dark, and sardonic, the outsized heroes of Byron’s great poems “Childe Harold” and “Manfred” are rebellious individuals who live by their own moral codes. The spawn of these Byronic heroes populate not only Victorian... Read More

Television is more than fifty years old. It is tempting to say that the medium is mature, that its strengths and limitations are understood. The problem with this viewpoint is that it is hard to say exactly what television is. Is it the... Read More

Something unprecedented happened in 1800. The leader of a nation was booted out of office—peacefully. Without bloodshed, power in the United States of America was transferred from the defeated incumbent, John Adams, to the sitting vice... Read More

“I think; therefore, I am,” say neuroscientists. In other words, our brain function determines who we are and what we do. Authors Michael A. Jawer and Dr. Marc Micozzi challenge this belief in The Spiritual Anatomy of Emotion. They... Read More

How rare are unflinching acts of self-reflexivity. “Eric had once commented on how closely I listened to him. Enough to steal a piece of his soul,” ends one of the essays in Michael Greenberg’s "Beg, Borrow, Steal", an... Read More