The past week saw notable anniversaries for some famous American novels. Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos turned 100. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird turned 65. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy both turned 40. And a new edition of Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (now 56 years old) has been published; I did a college paper on it and other examples of “new journalism” way back in 1971.
Speaking of journalism, a lost fragment of a passage in a newspaper written by Mark Twain has been found and published in Lapham’s Quarterly, and it sounds just like Twain. Ben Tarnoff at that magazine also writes about Mark Twain, the Californian, with a reading from The Bohemians.
Not a single American has been unaffected, directly or indirectly, by the consulting industry. If you worked for any corporation, you would know about “the consultants are here.” They were most often associated with slash-and-burn techniques; a company I worked for seemed to have consultants in permanent residence (like Mitt Romney of Booz, Allen). Now, it’s the consultants’ turn: AI is coming for them, writes Joe Nocera at The Free Press.
Since 2012, we’ve made seven trips to London, and we’ve watched it celebrate the Olympics, experience Brexit, and swing toward what some call “Londonistan.” It can be a complex place to visit: experiencing the marvels of a huge Van Gogh exhibition when Stop Oil protestors throw paint or soup and animal activists have traffic tied up around Trafalgar Square; or protests going on outside your hotel while the prime minister of Bangladesh is staying there. But it’s always been a rather crazy city to visit, as witnessed by a travel guide from 1820, and this “Stranger’s Guide to London” published a little earlier.
More Good Reads
America 250
The Olive Branch and Declaration of Causes Petitions – Rob Orrison at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
Bookish Diversions: Thomas Jefferson, Bookworm – Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review.
Joseph Warren and the Battle for Liberty – Charlton Allen at American Thinker.
The 1779 Invasion of Iroquoia: Scorched Earth as Described by Continental Soldiers – Victor DiSanto at Journal of the American Revolution.
The Plight of Massachusetts Loyalists – Larry Kerpelman at American Heritage.
How martial law made the American Revolution – Eli Merritt at The Los Angeles Times.
How Bunker Hill Forged the American Army – Amy Irvine at History Hit.
Writing and Literature
Mario Vargas Llosa: some reflections on his legacy – James Stevens Curl at The Critic Magazine.
Another Reason I Collect Books – Brian Miller at Notes from an East Tennessee Farmer.
The Murder Mystery: Keeping It Fresh – Liza Tully at CrimeReads.
The Scenery of the Crime – Spencer Weinreich at Public Books.
Middle-Earth Belongs in the Public Domain – Andrew Henry at The Saxon Cross.
American Stuff
The Civil War at St. Elizabeth’s Asylum – Madeleine Feierstein at Emerging Civil War.
Life and Culture
Against Self-Optimization – David Zahl at Plough.
Science and Accountability – Scott Atlas at the New Criterion.
The Death of the Public Library – Zac Bissonnette at The Free Press.
What We Lose When We Lost the Plot – Holly Stockley at Front Porch Republic.
British Stuff
At the Caslon Letter Foundry – Spitalfields Life.
Faith
Out of Their Want – Kelly Keller at On the Common.
Poetry
“Barbara Frietchie,” poem by John Greenleaf Whittier – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Blessing for the Light – David Whyte.
“Under the Mountain,” poem by Frederick Goddard Tuckerman – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Hear the Hallelujahs Roar – CityAlight
Painting: A Convalescent Young Woman Reading, gouache on paper by David Joseph Bles (1821-1899).
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