Oxford medieval historian Hannah Skoda chooses her top five books on the Middle Ages, explaining why she finds the whole idea of their 'middleness' problematic and how a more global approach tends to shatter many long-held assumptions about the period. — Read on fivebooks.com/best-books/the-middle-ages-hannah-skoda/
We may not be able to leave the house, but these transporting books whisk us to Central Asia – The Washington Post
“Discovering Cyrus,” “The Road to Oxiana,” “The Nature of Alexander” and more. — Read on http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/we-may-not-be-able-to-leave-the-house-but-these-transporting-books-whisk-us-to-central-asia/2020/05/20/722d2dc8-9944-11ea-89fd-28fb313d1886_story.html
The Great Elmore Leonard Renaissance of the Late ’90s | CrimeReads
During his reign as the preeminent king of American crime lit, the late Elmore Leonard was often described as “the most cinematic novelist in the English language.” It was a designation he seemed to encourage, once remarking “I’ve always seen my books as movies.” To be fair, the cinematic track record of Leonard adaptations is [...]
COVID-19 Environment – Are Pandemics Good for the Environment?
COVID-19 environment - An anthropologist looks at past disease outbreaks to consider how the COVID-19 crisis may—or may not—benefit the environment. — Read on http://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/covid-19-environment/
Book Marks reviews of The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes by Zachary D Carter
Carter unearths the lost legacy of one of history’s most fascinating minds. The Price of Peace revives a forgotten set of ideas about democracy, money, and the good life with transformative implications for today’s debates over inequality and the power politics that shape the global order. — Read on bookmarks.reviews/reviews/the-price-of-peace-money-democracy-and-the-life-of-john-maynard-keynes/
Shakespeare’s Globe theater faces closure due to Covid-19 lockdown | CNN Travel
William Shakespeare's Globe theater, the famous London playhouse where the playwright's shows were performed, faces permanent closure as a result of coronavirus lockdown measures, the theater and UK politicians have warned. Lawmakers on Monday warned the UK government that the historic theater -- which has been closed since March due to coronavirus restrictions -- was [...]
Why Yo-Yo Ma Would Invite Socrates to Dinner – The New York Times
When my son was in sixth grade, his teacher gave him an assignment on “Kalila wa Dimna,” fables that originated in India and moved to Persia, shared as a way to educate future rulers. But it turns out that they are beloved stories that children know all over the world, stories that we recognize in [...]
Roberto Calasso – Wikipedia
Roberto Calasso (born 30 May 1941 in Florence) is an Italian writer and publisher. Apart from his mother tongue, Calasso is fluent in French, English, Spanish, German, Latin and ancient Greek. He has also studied Sanskrit. He has been called "a literary institution of one". The fundamental thematic concept of his oeuvre is the relationship [...]
A Writer Pursues His Subjects as a Hunter Stalks His Prey – The New York Times
Calasso is especially good at describing the characters of myth and legend with a novelist’s omniscient authority — and the occasional zinger. “For 16 generations Zeus had intercourse with women from earth,” he writes, and “had always been attracted to the women of the house of Argus.” (Even the king of the gods, it seems, [...]
The Limitations of a NATO-Middle East Military Cooperation – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The U.S. government should realign its objectives towards the Atlantic Alliance in the Middle East with the reality of NATO’s regional engagement. Given the limitations of NATO’s military cooperation—however, small successes it has yielded—and its security assistance, it should not expect to decisively impact the military effectiveness of Middle Eastern partners. But NATO has and [...]
