By Marion Elizabeth Rodgers - Special to The Washington Times
The Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald story is well-known. As writer Budd Schulberg observed, its romantic legend is so uniquely American in all its strengths and weaknesses that it is little wonder that the life and work became mythologized. Published May 17, 2013 Comments
By Peter Hannaford - Special to The Washington Times
Now 90 years old, William Zinsser has spent his adult life campaigning for clarity of writing which, of course, can only flow from clarity of thought. Nearly 40 years ago, he wrote a book titled “On Writing Well.” It has become an essential guide for many a nonfiction writer. That book was inspired by a writing course he taught at Yale in the 1970s. Published May 16, 2013 Comments
By Gary Anderson - Special to The Washington Times
A more appropriate title for this book might be “Empire Happens.” No British king or minister made a conscious decision to create the greatest empire in history. The imperium was created as a patchwork over the centuries beginning with the subjugation of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Published May 15, 2013 Comments
By David DesRosiers - Special to The Washington Times
William J. Bennett and David Wilezol’s “Is College Worth It?” asks and authoritatively answers one of life’s biggest questions. Published May 14, 2013 Comments
By William Murchison - Special to The Washington Times
Eric Metaxas’ project here, in limning the notable lives of seven Christian men, is to hold up all seven as models of right behavior and commitment. He senses — well, I mean, how could he not? — that “young men especially need role models. Published May 13, 2013 Comments
By Philip Kopper - Special to The Washington Times
It is a brave novelist who opens a book with his heroically obese wine snob, “a vast floodplain of undulating flesh,” flopping in marital bliss, with his wife “making that melodious sound that reminded him of mermaids singing in an unintelligible language of a place he had never seen.” Published May 10, 2013 Comments
By Joseph C. Goulden - Special to The Washington Times
Seventeen years after his death, former Director of Central Intelligence William E. Colby remains a controversial figure among many persons in and around the intelligence community. Did he betray generations of fellow officers by going public with a so-called “family jewels” list of CIA misdeeds over the years? Or did the disclosure save the agency from dissolution by an angry Congress? Published May 10, 2013 Comments
By Mary Beth Baker - Special to The Washington Times
Friedrich Nietzsche famously announced the death of God more than a century ago. Scholars and sociologists alike have been trying to prove him right — or wrong — ever since. Regardless of religious affiliation, just about everyone agrees that God has been on the wane in the West for quite some time. Published May 5, 2013
By Claire Hopley - Special to The Washington Times
How do writers and other artists create their work? Our library of mental images includes visions of poets communing with nature, novelists burning the midnight oil whilst scribbling away in cold and lonely attics, composers tinkling phrases on the piano then dashing the notes down as their minds race with inspiration. Published May 3, 2013
By John R. Coyne Jr. - Special to The Washington Times
Donovan Campbell, a management and technology consultant and author of "Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood," served three combat deployments as a decorated Marine Corps officer in Iraq and Afghanistan. Published May 2, 2013
By Steven Mosher - Special to The Washington Times
The Spratlys and the Paracels would hardly seem to be worth fighting over. Consisting of a few small islands and a few dozen rock outcroppings, many of which are underwater at high tide, they lack a source of fresh water and have never been inhabited — until now. Published May 1, 2013
By Michael Taube - Special to The Washington Times
There have been many impressive books written about the Abraham Lincoln-Stephen Douglas debates during the 1858 Senate election in Illinois. Harry V. Jaffa, Harold Holzer and Allen Carl Guelzo all stand out for their analyses of one of the most important events in U.S. political history. So much so, it makes one wonder if there's anything really left to discuss. Published April 30, 2013
By Joseph C. Goulden - Special to The Washington Times
A time-honored cliche of historians is to refer to Simon Bolivar as the "George Washington of Latin America." To be sure, the 19th-century patriot was instrumental in the nationalist uprising that drove Spanish colonialism off the continent. Published April 29, 2013
By Corinna Lothar - Special to The Washington Times
"I've lost every book I've ever written," says the unnamed narrator at the beginning of Kristopher Jansma's novel, "The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards." The "I" is a writer, whose literary attempts began "before my feet could touch the linoleum floor beneath my seat." Published April 26, 2013
