Just when you think you’ve heard or read just about every story you could about the U.S. Civil War (seven years of reading does that to you), along comes a story you haven’t heard before. I did a double take when I saw the headline; this sounded like “fake news.” But it’s a true story, and Eli Wizewich at Smithsonian Magazine has the details: “Why General Ulysses S. Grant Issued an Order to Expel Jews from Certain Confederate States During the Civil War.”
Earlier this week, I posted a review of Once Upon a Wardrobe by Pati Callahan. Yesterday, she posted a reflection about writing and learning the big secret of writing (The secret is, “There is no secret”). See “Twenty Years of Searching for Stories.”
We love visiting London and England, and we love visiting English churches large and small. My favorite is a tossup between Southwark Cathedral (a human-sized church) and the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London. You will always find crowds at the big two – Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral, and I’m certain both depend mightily upon tourists for financial sustenance. But I read about the troubles of the Church of England (and wrote about them in both Dancing King and Dancing Prophet), and my heart grows heavy: silent discos at Canterbury Cathedral; the Archbishop of Canterbury resigns over an abuse scandal; major changes in theology; and now questioning whether Jesus is the “true Messiah.”
More Good Reads
Writing and Literature
Why Take a Crazy Deadline? – Terry Whalin at The Writing Life.
The Longevity of A Christmas Carol – Joshua Young at The Spectator.
The Oldest Languages in the World and the Origins of Writing – Alexander Gale at Greek Reporter.
Disrupting Your Author Website – Lisa Norman at Writers in the Storm.
The Mideast
“The New Europe?” European Diplomatic History and the Future of the Middle East – essay by Jay Mens and Niall Ferguson at The Hoover Institution.
News Media
Don’t Expect Media Apologies – Ever – for the Duke Lacrosse Case – Harry Stein at City Journal.
College Radio – Matt Waldron at Front Porch Republic.
Life and Culture
Europe is Canceling Christmas – Itxu Diaz at Tablet Magazine.
Poetry
“The House of Christmas” by G.K. Chesterton – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Reed – Don Paterson at Literary Matters.
Faith
Tom Holland on How Christianity Remade the World – Bari Weiss at The Free Press.
The Miracle of the Light – Meir Soloveichik at The Free Press.
The Mystery and Miracle of the Incarnation – Robb Brunansky at The Cripplegate.
British Stuff
An awful year for the British royals draws to an end – Alexander Larman at The Spectator.
We Are Messengers – Thorn and Thistle featuring Keith & Kristyn Getty
Painting: Woman Reading at the Window, oil on canvas by Harold Knight (1874-1961).
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