Turnpike beauty
I don’t think anyone has ever said the New Jersey Turnpike is beautiful. But this morning it is. An encyclopedia [...]
Waiting for the barbarians
In 1992, historian and biographer William Manchester published a powerful, if brief, popular history of medieval Europe and how a [...]
Joe and Elon
Those who consider the wrecking ball duo of Donald Trump and Elon Musk a new and dystopian development in American [...]
Review: “The Vegetarian”
Originally published in 2007 and praised for its layered, Kafkaesque surrealism, The Vegetarian by Han Kang received the 2016 Man [...]
So help me God
Italy long ago backed away from Catholicism as its state religion, but the faith remains fundamentally important, even in the [...]
Before New Orleans
In the poker game of psychological warfare on which terrorism depends, the September 11 plotters cleaned out the house. In [...]
Horrors of December
You may consider the Christmas season a time of fun, and while most Christmas traditions are sweet, especially the ones [...]
Protect and kill
One of the most durable phrases in the Pentagon’s Vietnam War–era arsenal of euphemisms consisted of two words, protective reaction. [...]
Ferrante’s genial friend
Recently ranked number one on the "The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century" by "The New York Times Book [...]
Spotting Italians abroad
Until last year, I never thought Colombians and Italians had much in common. Then I met an Italian for the [...]
To smoke (or not)
Every time I go to the doctor and have to fill out my medical history, one question gives me pause: [...]