You might think that because it’s history, all the basic facts of an era, an event, or a person have been written down, at least somewhere. That’s what I thought when I wrote my historical novel Brookhaven, trusting Dr. Google and Mr. DuckDuckGo at least to point me to the right sources or general directions. I discovered my assumptions were largely wrong. Sometimes, what should have been a no-brainer took hours (and, in one case, days) to track down. Erin Cotter at CrimeReads would likely commiserate, and she offers a basic primer with Historical Fiction 101.
In the run-up to the November election, a flood of articles inundated newspaper op-ed pages, magazines, online publications, and the air waves about one topic: the Electoral College. In general, I’d say they were about 98 percent in one direction: the Electoral College should be abolished. I suspect the motivating idea was that one candidate might win the popular vote, and another the electoral vote, and that was deemed wrong. Then came the election, one candidate won both, and, suddenly, it was crickets. Chuck Chalberg at The Imaginative Conservative returns to the basic question: Does the Electoral College Still Work?
The grooming gang controversy rages on in Britain, and someone needs to tell the British government that you don’t address and calm a crisis by throwing gasoline and lit matches at it. Laurie Wastell at The Critic Magazine discusses what she calls Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s “political prisoners,” and then follows it up with a second round. Ben Sixsmith weighs in, saying Starmer’s scapegoating is downright silly. Douglas Murray at The Free Press says what the British government wouldn’t say, and the New Criterion delivers a rather pointed editorial: Don’t let’s be beastly.
On Jan. 22, 1938, one of the most iconic American plays ever made its debut in Princeton, New Jersey – Our Town by Thornton Wilder. I saw it first in high school when I was all of 16, way back in 1968, and even at that age I thought it was marvel. Jason Clark at This Is the Day recalls the play’s debut, and how it created magic, even without props.
More Good Reads
Poetry
My Daughter Asks about Some Bombs in Europe – Ben Myers at Rabbit Room Poetry.
‘Rattler,’ on Wyeth’s ‘Master Bedroom’ – Carl Kinsky at Society of Classical Poets.
Constellation of Genius: Milosz, Camus, Einstein, and Weil – Cynthia Haven at Church Life Journal.
“Bellbirds,” poem by Henry Kendall – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Writing and Literature
Rediscovering the Golden Age Novels of Dostoevsky Translator David Magarshack – Martin Edwards at CrimeReads.
Unthorough Thoughts on Thackeray – Adam Roberts.
Ralph Wood on Flannery O’Connor and the Church – David Moore at Mere Orthodoxy.
Faith
Hitting the Bullseye May Take Awhile – Judy Allen at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics.
God Doesn’t Work for Me – Seth Lewis.
The Theology of Music – Peter Leithart at First Things Magazine.
The Opposite of Politics – Spencer Klavan at The New Jerusalem.
Prison and the Progress of the Soul – Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative.
Never Alone – Belinda Carlisle & Nicholas Hamilton, from the movie “Brave the Dark”
Painting: Beatrice, oil on canvas (1895) by Marie Spartali Stillman (1844-1927).
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