Life teems all around us, from annoying mosquito stings to the soothing sounds of songbirds to the wet nose of your family dog. As most of us gaze out on the world, we see, hear, smell, touch, taste, and sense a whole variety of stimuli. Oftentimes, we may assume that the creatures we inhabit the world with experience…
Book Review: ‘An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us’
Facing Our Failures: O. Henry’s Short Story, ‘The Last Leaf’
When we fail, our natural desire is to hide from our failures, hoping they will disappear. Yet, in his short story “The Last Leaf,” O. Henry demonstrates through a young woman named Johnsy that, no matter what we have done, we can heal ourselves from our worst sicknesses by facing our failures. Johnsy (or Joanna)…
The ‘Exemplary Novels’: Cervantes Invents the Spanish Novela
There are few books that influenced literary history. The “Exemplary Novels” by Miguel de Cervantes (author of the well-known “Don Quixote”) is one of them. Published in 1613, this collection of 12 short tales was the first example of the Spanish “novela” form. At the time, similar collections appeared in Spain but these were usually translations…
A Call to Consciousness: John Keats’s ‘Ode to a Nightingale’
So many things demand our attention in this fast-paced age that we are tempted to just passively watch rather than expend energy to actively observe, not just to see but to truly behold. John Keats confronted the temptation to this passivity in 1819 when he composed “Ode to a Nightingale,” which would become one of…
Epoch Booklist: Recommended Reading for March 17–23
This week, we feature a vivid history of the world just before the Great War and an insightful commentary from a North Korean defector on the United States today. History ‘1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War’ By Charles Emmerson No one today has a direct, adult memory of 1913, yet it…
Book Review: ‘Never Give An Inch: Fighting for the America I Love’ by Mike Pompeo
As of this writing, former Kansas Congressman and director of the CIA and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has not announced that he is in the race to be the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election. The memoir of his time in the Trump administration, “Never Give An Inch: Fighting for the America I…
Book Review: ‘The Lionkeeper of Algiers: How an American Captive Rose to Power in Barbary and Saved His Homeland from War’
There are hidden gems among the treasures of history, and when historians and writers stumble across them, it is a true gift when they share them with the rest of us. Des Ekin, historian and journalist, has found such a gem in James Leander Cathcart among the treasures of American history. In his new book,…
Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ Free Speech, and Modern Censorship
In 2020, a group of time-honored American novels including Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” and John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” were banned from Burbank, California, schools over parents’ complaints of racism and racial slurs in the books. Back in 1951, Ray Bradbury predicted this type of…
Illusions of Beauty and Status: Clara Dillingham Pierson’s Short Story for Children ‘The Night Moth With a Crooked Feeler’
Too often we worry about looking perfect and beautiful, impressing people, and fitting in. However, beauty and status are not things worth seeking. In her short story, “The Night Moth With a Crooked Feeler,” Clara Dillingham Pierson shows that, when we get caught up in beauty, looks, and status, we lose sight of character, kindness,…
Full Steam Ahead: Mark Twain’s Short Story, ‘Mark Twain: A Child’s Biography’
The haphazard, changing nature of life can make it difficult to stay true to one’s self. But if we surrender to change, we sacrifice our chance to find our destiny. In his short story, “Mark Twain: A Child’s Biography,” Mark Twain (or Samuel Clemens) shows how he stayed true to himself throughout all of life’s…
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