Monthly Archives: June, 2017

When I think about Albania, which is not often, I usually think about Communist dictator Enver Hoxha and the hundreds of thousands of reinforced...

Most of us, or so I like to think in order to feel better about myself, steer away from actually reading St. Augustine.  We...

I’ve always liked food history—maybe because as a small child I spent quite a lot of time reading The Cooking of Vienna’s Empire, a...

This book mostly claims to be a book about “globalization,” today’s trendy word, but really, it is a book about industrial revolutions through time...

In the distant past—five months ago—I believed our country could heal its divisions.  Sure, we’d always have disagreements, and sure, our new President was...

Graham Allison, a Harvard professor and sometime government functionary, is clearly a man who thinks a great deal of himself.  On the other hand,...

This book is pure hagiography.  While I suppose hagiography has its uses, mostly to gull and overawe the under-educated, I dislike hagiography.  But at...

Sarah Ruden may be my favorite author.  It’s not that I’ve read everything she’s written—her main oeuvre is translation of classics such as the...

This is a fantastic book that well deserves its reputation as a classic.  Part history, part sociological study, part economic analysis, and part ecological...

The heroes of every age are often not seen as heroes during their lives, or if so viewed in their own age they are...