“Avi Lanir: A Short Life Story” by Yael Yannay

Born in 1940 in what was then the British Mandate and what would become the state of Israel, Avi Lanir enjoyed only a short life. He died in 1973, tortured to death by the Syrians after he was captured during the Yom Kippur War. (“The Geneva Convention is for Europe, not here”). And yet he’s remembered as one of Israel’s most famous fighter pilots.

 

Author Yal Yannay had published a full biography of the man. But Avi Lanir – A Short Life Story: The Courage and Capture of an Israeli Fighter Pilot is not only a biography; it is also a history of Israel through 1973. And that’s because Lanir lived that history from his birth in 19340 to his death in 1973. Yannay also writes the story in the present tense, which places the reader right there in the midst of the narrative. 

She weaves a complex story. You move through the 1940s, when Lanir had family members and relatives involved in both fighting for the British and working in groups like the Irgun against the British. As a teen, Lanir’s father is given a diplomatic post in the United States, and his son’s experience was very different from peers in Israel. (When the family returned to Israel, Avi was the only one of his friends who had a driver’s license, for example.) 

 

Avi Lanir

Avi joined the military and specifically the Israeli air force. He not only loved his job; he was outstanding at it. He gradually became a squadron leader. He fought through the Six Day War in 1967, the three-year War of Attrition that followed, and then the Yom Kippur War in 1973. What becomes clear as you read is that Israel is never really not at war. Not during the lifetime of Avi Lanir, and not now.

 

Yannay, an author, writer, editor, and lexicographer, has done extensive research on Avi’s life. That includes ancestors, in-depth descriptions of military procedures and operations, and interviews with family members, including his widow, son, and daughter. What emerges is a complex man with both nerve and courage. 

 

After his capture, some were concerned that the Syrians would realize just how much the pilot knew; it could have materially harmed Israel’s military defense. But those who knew him weren’t worried; they knew that Avi was one man who wouldn’t break. And they were right, no matter what torture methods were employed. The state of his body when it was returned showed just how horrific the torture was.

 

Avi Lanir – A Short Life Story is a remarkable account of a courageous man, and a story of how a country can always be at war.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

The Exhibition of Industrial Power and London Archaeology – A London Inheritance. 

“The Good Riddle,” poem by G.K. Chesterton – Malcolm Guite. 

Saturday Good Reads – Nov. 8, 2025

At the end of the French and Indian War, known as the Seven Years War in Europe, Britain had triumphed. But it had two problems – the war had been hideously expensive, and the politicians (and royalty) running Britain at the time were not known for even-handedness. And those two factors, says George Goodwin at History Today, led to the American Revolution. 

If you’re intimidated by attempting to read The Iliad by Homer, Katie Hartsock at New Verse Review has a suggestion: Try Glimpses of The Iliad first.

 

The Old Testament of the Bible contains a lot of strange things, One of the strangest is the reference to the Nephilim, cited in Genesis 6:1-4. Brian Aucker at By Faith takes a stab at explaining what these creatures might have been.

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

“Voice of Common Sense” George Washington and Guy Fawkes Day – Rob Orrison at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

West Point’s Critical Role in the American Revolution – Christopher Klein at History.

 

Early Preservation at Fort Ticonderoga – Evan Portman at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

Brickett’s Brigade: Less Infantry and More Cavalry at  Saratoga – Sherman Lohnes at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

Israel

 

30 Years – Michael Oren at Clarity on Yitzhak Rabin. 

 

Faith

 

Stay Put and Make Disciples – David Mathis at Desiring God.

 

4 Prerequisites for Ministry No One Talks About – Justin Jackson at The Gospel Coalition.

 

Poetry

 

“Crossing the Bar,” poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

“No!,” poem by Thomas Hood – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

“Reunion,” poem by Sally Thomas and “Growing Old,” poem by Matthew Arnold – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Writing and Literature

 

All There Is to Know, More or Less – Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review on Simon Garfield’s All the Knowledge in the World.

 

Aquinas and the Limits of Forgiveness: A Case Study in Anna Karenina – Anna Moreland at Church Life Journal. 

 

Horror and the Sacred – Bruce Frohnen at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

American Stuff

 

Finding Clara Barton at her Washington, D.C. Home – Margaret Feierstein t Emerging Civil War.

 

Steady Hand – Lightbeholder

 Painting: Woman Reading a Letter, oil on canvas by James Carroll Beckwith (1852-1917). 

Saturday Good Reads - Oct. 25, 2025

It was a mystery. A New Orleans couple discovered an 1,800-yearold Roman tombstone in their backyard. No, it wasn’t evidence that the Roman Empire had spread farther westward than previously known. The explanation turned out to be not unexpected. And the tombstone eventually found its way to where it belonged. 

The worldwide Anglican Church has been moving in this direction for some time, but the appointment of the new Archbishop of Canterbury brought the fracture. The new archbishop will not be installed until March, but the appointment itself was sufficient. The Anglican churches of Asia, Africa, South America, and even some in North America have “declared a reset of the Anglican Communion,” and the Anglican Church in England is not invited (presumably along with the Anglican churches in Canada and Australia and the Episcopal Church in the United States). 

 

Robert Frost kept a small one in his pocket. Gerard Manly Hopkins toted one as well. I’m not in their league, but I carry one with me almost everywhere I go. “It” is the notebook, and T.M. Moore at Front Porch Republic extols its virtues. 

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

William Billings: Patriot, composer, leather-tanner – David Stowe at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

Cornwallis Yields: The Yorktown Surrender – Jason Clark at This is the Day.

 

An Englishman’s Journal of the Revolutionary War: The Journals of Nicholas Cresswell 1774-1777 – Kenneth Bancroft at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

Arthur Lee’s Warning – Bob Ruppert at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

In January 1776, Virginia’s Port City of Norfolk Was Set Ablaze, Galvanizing the Revolution. But Who Really Lit the Match? – Andrew Lawler at Smithsonian Magazine.

 

Book Review: War Without Mercy: Liberty or Death in the American Revolution – Eric Sterner at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

British Stuff

 

Can London never change? – Samuel Weiss at The Critic Magazine.

 

Israel

 

A Time to Say Thank You – Michael Oren at Clarity.

 

Life and Culture

 

Heather Cox Richardson’s Revisionist History – Blake Dodge and Katherine Dee at The Free Press.

 

Possibilities – Brian Miller at Notes from an East Tennessee Farmer.

 

The Dawn of the Postliterate Society – James Marriott at The Free Press.

 

Education in a Different Story – Nina Tarpley at Front Porch Republic.

 

Faith

 

How to Stay Human: C.S. Lewis on the Doctrine of Man – Louis Markos at Desiring God.

 

What Do Miniature Codices Tell Us About Early Christianity? #2 – Michael Kruger at Canon Fodder.

 

The Plight of the Christian Scholar – John Ahern at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Big Lessons from Small Things – Andrew Roycroft at New Grub Street.

 

Poetry

 

Sonnet 14: “If thou dost love me, let it be for nought” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

My little Poem: howl – Megan Willome as inspired by Vachel Lindsay.

 

Art, Life, and the Sonnet – Angela Alaimo O’Donnell at New Verse Review.

 

“High Barbary,” poem by J. Howard Stables – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

On Being Haunted by Milton’s Paradise Lost – Matthew Smith at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

“The Death of Autumn,” poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Ruminant – poem by Megan Willome.

 

Aodhán King – Time – Lauren Daigle

 Painting: A Breton Infants School, watercolor over pencil on paper (1882), by Jean-Baptiste Jules Trayer (1824-1909). 

Saturday Good Reads - Oct. 18, 2025

For years, intense attention has been focused on the decline of young people attending church. Recently, it’s been discovered that younger people, especially young men, are coming back. What hasn’t been considered is another attendance issue – older people. Thom Rainer at Religion Unplugged loos at the departure of older church members. 

Much, much has been written about all of the influences on the founders of the American republic, but a new one (for me, at least) was Jonathan Swift. It turns out that several of our Founding Fathers were fans of Gulliver’s Travels. 

 

Justin Kaplan (1925-2014) was the general editor of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations. He also wrote (back in 1966) what is considered to be one of the best if not the best biography of Mark Twain, which won both a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for biography. He also write a biography of Lincoln Steffens, and his biography of Walt Whitman won his second National Book Award. Kaplan’s daughter Hester has now written a biography of her father, wand went looking at Mark Twain’s home to find her dad.

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

An October 1775 Birthday for the Continental Navy – Eric Sterner at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

How Two Presidents Saved the Declaration of Independence – Janice Rogers Brown at Coolidge Review.

 

Colonel William Prescott: Heroic Commander of the Battle of Bunker Hill by Donald Ryan – book review by Sam Short at the Journal of the American Revolution.

 

The Revolution Could Have Started Here – Bob Thompson at American Heritage.

 

Israel

 

The Hostages Return Home and the Lies Fall Apart – Eli Lake at The Free Press.

 

How Real Estate-Ism Got the Deal Done in Gaza – Niall Ferguson at The Free Press.

 

Faith

 

How Do We Define the Church? – Eric Watkins at Ligonier.

 

“Jerusalem the Golden,” hymn by Bernard of Cluny – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

What Do Miniature Codices Tell Us About Early Christianity? #1 – Michael Kruger at Canon Fodder.

 

I Thought I Didn’t Need God. I Was Wrong – Charles Murray at The Free Press.

 

Presbyterian Formation vs Digital Formation – Jake Meador at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Writing and Literature

 

What I Learned from Reading Peter Pan to My Children – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.

 

Willa Cather’s prescription for modern life – Charlotte Stroud at Engelsberg Ideas. 

 

Poetry

 

“What Are You Doing Here, Heart?”, poem by Fr. Girolamo Savonarola – translated by Cody Ilardo at Power & Glory.

 

“Church Monuments,” poem by George Herbert – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

British Stuff

 

London Falling: How the Birthplace of Free Speech Became a Censor’s Paradise – Eli Lake at The Free Press.

 

Margaret Thatcher: late bloomer – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.

 

Art

 

Marie Lenclos in Columbia Rd. – Spitalfields Life.

 

Poetry – Taylor Leonhardt

 Painting: A Young Man Seated Reading a Book, oil on canvas by Henri-Joseph Harpignies (1819-1916). 

Saturday Good Reads - Oct. 11, 2025

It appears that peace is coming to Gaza, the hostages are being returned to Israel, and Hamas is disarming. The Free Press, with its paywall down for this week, has a whole series of stories about the Legacy of Oct. 7. Charles Lipson at The Spectator asks, has Israel won? Michael Oren at Clarity calls this dealmaking process an astonishing moment in diplomacy. 

And there’s the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, learning its decision to honor a Venezuelan democracy activist (instead of the obvious but politically incorrect choice) has a final twist – the winner dedicated her prize to the people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his support of their cause. Trump himself couldn’t have trolled that one any better.

 

This past week was the 186^th anniversary of the death of one of America’s most distinctive writing voices – Edgar Allan Poe. Jason Clark at This is the Day considers the mysterious nature of Poe’s death, which almost sounds like one of his short stories. Ed Simon at Literary Hub discusses elements of Americanism (or its opposite) that can be found in Poe’s works. 

 

Speaking of Americanism, Mark Malvasi at The Imaginative Conservative looks at The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne, arguing that the story represents a darkening of the American vision.

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

A Revolution Both Radical and Conservative – Yuval Levin at The Coolidge Review.

 

Jean Thurel: Ninety Years a Private Soldier – Norman Desmarais at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

British Stuff

 

Why can’t the Church of England stand up for Jews? – The Critic Magazine.

 

Life and Culture

 

In the ruins of Rome – D.C.R. Austen at Sacramentality.

 

Character in Absurd Times – Joshua Heavin at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

The Right Way to Fight Anti-Semitism – Christopher Rufo.

 

News Media

 

The Future of the Free Press – Bari Weiss.

 

Bari Weiss faces a ‘snake pit’ as she eyes overhaul of left-leaning CBS News: insiders – Alexandra Steigrad at the New York Post.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Shirley Jackson and the Eerie Omniscient Narrator – Lincoln Michel at Counter Craft. 

 

Why Writers Get Lost in Research (And How to Find Your Way Back) – Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

 

Macbeth’s brief candle – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.

 

Writing is Thinking – Spencer Klavan at Rejoice Evermore.

 

Poetry

 

The Many Lives of Milton’s Paradise Lost – Stephen Schuler at Front Porch Republic.

 

“Tales of a Wayside Inn (opening),” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

“I Come Singing,” poem by Joseph Auslander – Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

“Everness,” poem by Jorge Luis Borges – Andrew Roycroft at New Grub Street.

 

Faith

 

How Islam and the Bible are fueling France’s ‘baptism boom’ – Luke Coppen at The Spectator.

 

Why Is John’s Gospel So Different from the Others? – Denny Burk.

 

Somewhere (from West Side Story) – Cormac Thompson

 Painting: Girl Reading, oil on canvas (1901) by Mary McEvoy (1870-1941).

Saturday Good Reads - Sept. 6, 2025

 

We’ve visited Britain seven times since 2012, and that doesn’t count the trip in 1983 for our 10^th anniversary. We stayed at the same hotel in London for the last six trips, and we’ve noticed the physical changes that have gone on in the neighborhood – new buildings, renovations, businesses changing hands – as well as what has stayed the same – Westminster Chapel, the St. James tube station, protests at Parliament Square, and Buckingham Palace two blocks down the street. 

We also noticed changes in the culture and population, as well as a change to how the city “feels,” which is an accumulation of the makeup of people riding the tube and buses, attitudes in restaurants and shops, the number of homeless, and other factors. We’ve never been victimized by a crime; we’ve rarely felt threatened. We’ve had one interaction with London police about a missing friend; the police were more than helpful, and the friend, who has memory issues, was eventually found. It is disconcerting to make our way through a crowd protesting some visitor staying at our hotel (the Dalai Lama once, the prime minister of Bangladesh another time). But with London, protests are a fact of life, including protests disrupting traffic.

 

What has been most disconcerting of all has been the sense of restrictions on people’s personal freedom. And that blew wide open this past week, when the Irish writer and comedian Graham Lineham was arrested when he traveled on an American Airlines flight to Heathrow Airport. His crime: three tweets making fun of transgender people. He was met by five armed policemen, detained (jet lagged) for 16 hours, and only let go when they had to rush him to the hospital for his blood pressure skyrocketing.

 

With all the protests going on over immigration and a host of government policies (including policing social media), you might think the police would be more circumspect. The Lineham arrest blew up on both sides of the Atlantic. The Critic Magazine called the arrest stupid and sinister. The Spectator said that free speech is in its death throes in Britain, and an American Anglophile wrote that he can no longer defend a country he loves. Greg Collard at Racket News says the U.K. has earned its status as a censorship state. Brendan O’Neill at The Free Press looks broadly at Britain’s working-class uprising. And The Wall Street Journal explains how it all happened – the U.K. thought it was controlling immigration, and it wound up with an unprecedented wave.

 

We love Britain and London. I’ve published five novels centered there. We’ve had some great visits and experiences; We’ve walked through great art exhibitions and massive amounts of history. We have friends there. And it feels like we’re watching a slow-motion catastrophe speed up.

 

I’ve heard Brits say that Americans care more about this than the British people do. They may be right. We’re watching it from afar, and so everything is telescoped. But we also know we sailed close to starting our own anti-free speech regime here in the United States, and just about the only thing that stopped it was Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter.

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

Culper Spy Austin Roe…the Joiner? – Mark Sternberg at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

The Coming of War in Culpepper, Virginia 1775 – James Bish at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

“It is Incredible How Much They Dread a Rifle”: Col. William Woodford’s 1775 James River Crossing – Patrick Hannum at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

Life and Culture

 

To Stop School Shootings, We Must Reject Three Liberal Premises – John Horvat at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

The War on Humanity – Matt Taibbi at Racket News.

 

 Farmer’s Kitchen – Brian Miller at Notes from an East Tennessee Farmer.

 

In Defense of Inequality --- Carlos Carvalho at The Free Press.

 

What is the Bigger Threat to Free Speech, Europe or Donald Trump’s America? – Matt Taibbi at Racket News.

 

Faith

 

China’s Divided Church Under Pope Francis – Paul Mariani at Church Journal.

 

The Global Church Needs More than American Worship Songs – Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition.

 

Pencil, Ink, and Blood – Keith Drury at Think Theology.

 

Writing and Literature

 

I Taught My 3-Year-Old to Read The Hobbit – Tyler Cowen at The Free Press.

 

When ad hominem attacks are justified – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader on Jonathan Swift.

 

British Stuff

 

Pastoral Reality Under a Supermajority – Matthew Hosier at Think Theology.

 

News Media

 

 A new chapter for the AJC – Andrew Morse at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

 

Another Reason Not to Trust the ‘Experts’ – editorial by The Free Press.

 

What is Blueskyism? – Nate Silver at The Silver Bulletin.

 

A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers – Taylor Lorenz at Wired Magazine.

 

Israel

 

Israel Is Not Committing Genocide: Exposing the Distortion of Law and Truth – John Spencer and Arsen Ostrovsky at Urban Warfare.

 

700 Days and Three Years – Michael Oren at Clarity.

 

Every Which Way – The Quebe Sisters

 Painting: Woman Reading, oil on canvas by Georges d’Espagnat (1870-1959), Manchester City Galleries, U.K.

Saturday Good Reads – August 16, 2025

The culture wars raged this week, sparked by President Trump’s takeover of the police function in Washington, D.C. and bringing in National Guard troops to get crime under control. The red side cheered, while the blue side screamed “fascist takeover” and “crime there is at its lowest point in 30 years.” But what if the crime statistics themselves were unreliable? Anecdotal evidence would say carjackings are up, muggings are up, armed robberies are up, but then, statistics say otherwise. Was it just a matter of perception? Then, I ran into this story, from – of all places – Washington, D.C.: in July, a police commander was suspended, accused of changing crime numbers. So, before we start shouting “crime rates are down,” don’t forget the propensity of some officials to make sure crime statistics seem to be down. And the people who live there might have an entirely different perspective.  

I tended to discount reports of paid protesters being bused in for whatever the latest cause or outrage might be. Shows you how much I know: Crowds on Demand CEO provides insight as protester requests up 400% under Trump. So now I have to wonder about all those aging Baby Boomers holding protest signs – are they real protesters or is this just a quick money-making gig? And who's paying for hiring protesters?

 

A Facebook friend, Matthew Kaboomis Loomis, posted this video about the Worst Trend on the Internet Right Now. It’s entitled “You’re Being Played,” and it’s about the outrage machine – someone is making money every time you click or comment on what appears to be awful, political, shocking, “bombshell,” and similar accounts guaranteed to raise your blood pressure or set off your “infuriate” genes. At best, these reports are grossly exaggerated; at worst, they’re outright lies. 

 

Something more uplifting: T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men” turned 100 years old this past week. British poet laureate Simon Armitage composed a poem, “In Retrospect,“ to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of VE Day and VJ Day (and he talks about it at the Tower of London; see the video below). And Joseph Bottum takes a look at “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost.

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

Weapons of the American Revolutionary War – Lesson plan from C-Span Classroom, from a lecture hosted by the St. Charles County (Missouri) Historical Society.

 

The Pests That Plagued Colonial America – Jack Tamisiea at History.

 

Vandalia Colony: American Triumph or Folly? – Jason Cherry at the Journal of the American Revolution.

 

Life and Culture

 

The World Says Quit, But I’m Not Done Yet – Anthony Giardina at The Free Press.

 

Lying Increases Trust in Science, Says Academic – William Briggs at Science Is Not the Answer.

 

Russiagate Releases Lifting a Veil on Surveillance State Abuses – Matt Taibbi at Racket News. 

 

American Stuff

 

The Klan and Coolidge: Birth of a Smear – Coolidge Review.

 

Writing and Literature

 

The 25 best (British and Irish) novels of the 21^st century – from Kazuo Ishiguro to Hillary Mantel – The Times of London. 

 

Why You Should Still Build Your Raft in the Sea of Slop – Lincoln Michel a Counter Craft.

 

Poetry

 

The Wartime Admissions of T.S. Eliot – Craig Raine at The Spectator.

 

“I Can in Groups These Mimic Flowers Compose,” poem by Charlotte Turner Smith – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Four Walks in Central Parks – excerpts from a Poetic Guide to the Park at New Verse Review.

 

Mid-Lake – Andrew Roycroft at New Grub Street.

 

Faith

 

On the Day Everything Changes, Remember What Hasn’t – Michael Kelley at Forward Progress.

 

The Great Commission Became His Ambition: Adoniram Judson’s Stirring Legacy – Ryan Griffith at Desiring God.

 

Israel

 

A Chosen State? – Michael Oren at Clarity.

 

The Art of Remembrance – Simon Armitage at the Tower of London on VE Day Anniversary

 Portrait of Efim Repin, the Artist’s Father, oil on canvas by Ilya Repin (1844-1930).

Saturday Good Reads - August 9, 2025

Some 40 years ago or so, we learned that eggs were bad for your cholesterol, “according to recent studies.” This was about the same time that Baby Boomers were suddenly launched on the no-fat craze. Now we learn that those earlier studies were all wrong, and eggs and even fat in some situations are okay after all. Follow the science! This past week, The Wall Street Journal has a report that the flood of fake papers has become so overwhelming that scientific journals can’t keep up with the corrections; some have even shut down. (It’s behind the paywall but I’ve unlocked it.)  

It was heartrending. A photo on the front page of The New York Times showed a mother holding what appeared to be her severely malnourished child. Other news media around the world displayed the photo. The photo went viral on social media. But it turned out to “misleading;” carefully edited out was the child’s healthy brother standing next to his sibling, and the child wasn’t suffering from starvation but from a pre-existing medical condition. Facts are such bothersome things. The Times, to its credit, ran a correction, although it was somewhat muted, with an editor’s note buried well below the story, and it was added four days after the photo was published. Even that buried correction earned the Times vandalism of its offices.

 

However, not all was lost. On Thursday, Literary Hub posted an article that explains how you, too, can join the propaganda war for Hamas: Pressure mainstream media to cover the Gaza famine. The post laments the action by The New York Times to correct the photograph but notes that it did achieve an instant public outcry. And writers can support the Flood the Newsrooms campaign, which helpfully provides the names of editors and addresses of their newspapers, including a suggested form letter. I suppose this is what passes for critical thinking in some American literary circles.

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

Will We Remember the Fallen of Long-Ago Wars? – Andrew Mizsak at Emerging Civil War.

 

Summer 1775: Washington Takes Command of the Continental Army – Michael Cecere at the Journal of the American Revolution.

 

“If Jefferson Was Wrong, America Is Wrong” – Rich Lowry at The Coolidge Review.

 

Tarleton at the Waxhaws: A Proposal for Reconciliation – Robert Ford at the Journal of the American Revolution.

 

Israel

 

I’m a War Scholar. There Is No Genocide in Gaza – John Spencer at Urban Warfare.

 

A genocide is underway, but it’s not in Gaza – Niall Ferguson at Time Machine.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Nora Charles, or how I discovered my favorite cocktail – Amelia Friedline at Dispatches to Jack.

 

What is The Odyssey About? Fathers & Sons – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.

 

Write Your Way Forward – Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

 

Joyce Carol Oates on True Crime, Genre, and Writing and Experimental Mystery Novel – Matthew Coleman Turbeville at CrimeReads.

 

Life and Culture

 

Old Models --- Amabelle Edamala at Front Porch Republic.

 

How China Hijacked America’s Climate Fears – The Free Press.

 

A Dress Code for Democracy – Brandon McNeice at Front Porch Republic.

 

News Media

 

Open Letter to the Columbia Journalism Review on the Atrocious New York Times – Matt Taibbi at Racket News.

 

Faith

 

60 Questions for Pro-Choice Christians – Jamie Wilder at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

A Tongue for Every Tribe: How English Serves the Global Church – Seth Porch at Desiring God.

 

When Broken Relationships Break Your Heart – Rev. Dave Harvey.

 

Fairest Lord Jesus – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

Poetry

 

“Sudden Light,” poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

“My Days among the Dead Are Past,” poem by Robert Southey – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

American Stuff

 

Robert E. Lee four months after Appomattox: Lexington – Mark Maloy at Emerging Civil War.

 

Come Saturday Morning – The Sandpipers

 A Young Woman Reading a Love Letter, oil on canvas by Pietro Antonio Rotari (1707-1762).