By Martin Rubin - Special to The Washington Times
This probing but fond memoir is perfectly titled (and subtitled), for it gives us a unique look at one of the 20th century’s most distinguished American novelists. There is certainly a lot of heart in Saul Bellow’s fiction, but it functions mostly as the organ that makes it possible for him to bleed so profusely when painfully cut. Published May 24, 2013 Comments
By Muriel Dobbin - Special to The Washington Times
Fascination with the undead and fear of the supernatural have filtered through the mists of time, and the vampire has become the star of a dark and bloody show still playing in the 21st century. Published May 23, 2013 Comments
By John Taylor and John M. Taylor - Special to The Washington Times
Since the first dog warily entered the first cave, the relationship between man and beast has been intriguing to man, and perhaps to beast as well. Published May 22, 2013 Comments
By Frank T. Csongos - Special to The Washington Times
In his sweeping, intelligent and enormously ambitious book, British historian Brendan Simms argues that whoever controls Central Europe can dominate the world. Published May 21, 2013 Comments
By David Wilezol - Special to The Washington Times
It’s not hard to see that the $490 billion higher-education industry is failing America. One study showed that only 45 percent of students demonstrate any cognitive gains by the middle of their sophomore year. Only about 50 percent of students enrolling in a four-year college graduate within six years. Published May 19, 2013 Comments
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 Martin Rubin - Special to The Washington Times
Born in 1881, P.G. Wodehouse was not really equipped for the 20th century. By the time it dawned, he was frozen in a time warp as an affable schoolboy. And not just any schoolkid, but what the British call a "public schoolboy," a product of the elite private boarding establishments that we call prep schools. Published April 12, 2013
By William F. Gavin - Special to The Washington Times
At the turn of the 20th century, it was a frontier town, surrounded by desert, in the middle of nowhere. In the early 1930s, it was a place where construction workers building Boulder Dam came to have a good time. Published April 11, 2013
By Robert F. Dunn - Special to The Washington Times
"Mayday," the universal distress call, is herein sounded for a U.S. Navy in serious trouble. Even as the Navy continues to fulfill commitments around the world, the number of ships and aircraft is decreasing, and those that remain are aging at an unacceptable rate. Published April 10, 2013
By RIchard Viguerie - Special to The Washington Times
"Heritage wanted young tigers, not old lions, who were excited about engaging in the war of ideas, eager to go into battle, and optimistic about the prospect for victory." Ed Feulner. Published April 9, 2013
By Michael Taube - Special to The Washington Times
Would it surprise Washington Times readers to learn that the United States has held public debt since 1789? Well, it's true. For more than two centuries, federal government securities such as Treasury bills and notes have been heavily borrowed from the general public. Published April 8, 2013
By John Taylor and John M. Taylor - Special to The Washington Times
Fakes have long been a plague of the art world. Thomas Hoving, the late director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, estimated that he had examined some 50,000 pieces of art in his day, and that "fully 40 percent were either phonies or so hypocritically restored or so misattributed that they were just the same as forgeries." Published April 5, 2013
By Martin Rubin - Special to The Washington Times
I have to confess that William Styron has never appealed to me much as a novelist. His reputation as an anointed major figure has always seemed to be dubious, based as it is on really only two novels, "The Confessions of Nat Turner" and "Sophie's Choice." Published April 5, 2013
By Muriel Dobbin - Special to The Washington Times
They were more than angry, those days when Adolf Hitler devastated Europe while America fretted about non-intervention. Published April 3, 2013
By John R. Bolton - Special to The Washington Times
As one of Robert Bork's antitrust students, and one of the few student or faculty conservatives at Yale (then or now), I was delighted when Richard Nixon announced in December 1972 that he was nominating Bork to be solicitor general. Published April 2, 2013
By Michael Taube - Special to The Washington Times
Like many other parents, my wife and I think that building a child's library creates an important gateway to acquiring a lifelong interest, passion and love for reading. Thus far, our 4-year-old son, Andrew, seems to enjoy his copious amount of books. We hope this early passion for literature continues to grow and develop. Published April 1, 2013
By Priscilla S. Taylor - Special to The Washington Times
Just when you think there can be nothing fresh to be said about the long life of Winston Churchill, along comes biographer Michael Shelden's page-turner about Churchill from age 26 to 40 (1901-1915). His book begins shortly after Churchill returned to Britain following his extraordinary military adventures in India and Africa, all of which Churchill himself chronicled. Published March 28, 2013
By Joseph C. Goulden - Special to The Washington Times
That Treasury Department official Harry Dexter White was a Soviet agent — perhaps the most important one in the Red-riddled Roosevelt administration — has been well-documented in defector reports and intercepted intelligence cables. Now startling new evidence has emerged on an attempt by White to tilt international economic policy in favor of the Soviet Union during the postwar Bretton Woods Conference in New Hampshire. Published March 28, 2013
By David Wilezol - Special to The Washington Times
Earlier this month, Philadelphia Magazine ran a cover story "Being White in Philly," in which the writer, Robert Huber, explored the racial dynamics of several Philly neighborhoods. Mr. Huber made clear that well-meaning whites have a hard time talking to nonwhites about race-related issues for fear of being labeled racist. Published March 28, 2013
By Aram Bakshian Jr. - Special to The Washington Times
In the course of our conversation, Richard Nixon singled out the then-relatively obscure ruler of a tiny city-state: Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew. Heaven only knows, Nixon reflected, what massive accomplishments Lee might have managed if he had led a major power. Published March 25, 2013
By Michael Taube - Special to The Washington Times
Newspaper comic strips, like most things in life, go through periods of reevaluation, reorganization and transformation. Those that run for decades will inevitably experience modifications in artistic style, character development and story lines, among other things. Published March 21, 2013
