Libraries, private and public, have long served as treasure houses of culture. The most famous library in the ancient world was the Great Library of Alexandria. That vast collection of scrolls helped make the city a chief intellectual center in the Mediterranean for centuries, until the library entered a slow decline because of a fire…
Our Libraries: Bastions of Books, Culture, and Community
Book Review: ‘Never Forsaken’ by Cindy Scott
The subject matter of this book piqued my interest as I am half Filipina on my father’s side. Born in Portland, Oregon, I am an American citizen, and freedom is granted to me by birthright. My father came to America from the Philippines in the early 30s, became an American citizen, attended the University of…
By Way of Longinus
Have you ever heard someone describe something as sublime? Over the past 2,000 years, this lofty term has been explained, lost, reexamined, and re-explained. One of its earliest interpretations comes from the first-century Greek literary critic Longinus. “On the Sublime”—a text of uncertain authorship traditionally attributed to Longinus—he describes the sublime as that which “carries…
Book Review: ‘Sins of the Fathers’
A question that has probably been posed to everyone at some point in time is “If you could go back in time and stop an event, would you and which event?” I can assume that many people would say yes, and possibly a sizable percentage of those people would suggest stopping Adolf Hitler from rising…
Book Review: ‘The Great Reset: Joe Biden and the Rise of 21st Century Fascism’
Not since the book “1984” have I read a book with such powerful warnings against the dangers of a totalitarian society—“The Great Reset: Joe Biden and the Rise of 21st Century Fascism” by Glenn Beck and co-written by Justin Haskins. While Beck is clearly against fascism and wants to end its rise, I believe that…
“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and the Kingship of Humanity
NOTICE Persons attempting to find a motive in the narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR This warning famously graces the opening page of Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” setting…
Book Recommender: ‘Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World’
Do empires build trade routes or do trade routes build empires? Have the United States and Russia been locked in an economic rivalry since the 1860s? Was World War I triggered by international grain trade and the desire of Russia to control Constantinople? “Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World,” by Scott Reynolds…
Book Reccomender:‘Eat, Drink, and Be Wary’
Food: It is a central part of our lives. It is surprising how relatively little fantasy and science fiction centers upon food. F&SF explores the human condition, extrapolating the present into alternate realities. Why not explore food? “Eat, Drink, and Be Wary: Satisfying Stories with a Delicious Twist,” edited by Lisa Mangum, takes on that…
Making Friends as an Adult
“One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do.” So sang Three Dog Night in 1969 in their hit song “One.” Six years later, a best-selling item for a while was the “pet rock,” a stone taken home and treated like a pet. Yes, that’s right, people actually bought rocks and either kept them for…
Professionalism, Leadership, and Honor: Some Lessons From ‘Once an Eagle’
In an online article about military readiness, retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Greg Newbold blasts our senior politicians and military leaders who “seem to have developed a form of dementia when it comes to warfare.” Newbold takes these leaders to task for stressing green energy policies, critical race theory, and wokeness instead of focusing on…
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