President Picks “Polio”
President Bush will read David Oshinsky’s Polio: An American Story.
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, California, USA
Golden Gate Park was established in 1872 on a site of 410 hectares/1,013 acres, and is one of the finest city parks in the country. The long rectangular park has two distinct sections. The western section adjoining the Pacific Ocean is buffeted by fierce winds and salt-laden air, while the more sheltered eastern section is […]
Napa Valley
Ben’s Place of the Week
Napa Valley Coordinates: 38° 30 N | 122° 20 W Area: 754 square miles (1,953 sq. km) Bavarian beer baths are fine for some, but the more sophisticated may prefer a Chardonnay massage–a truly intoxicating way to de-stress. Popular among the Parisian upper class in the eighteenth century, the long relaxing soak in a barrel […]
All Aboard and James A. H. Murray
By Anatoly Liberman The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) appeared thanks to the efforts of the Philological Society. Every May the society opened its “anniversary” (that is, annual) meetings with long presidential addresses, which also graced the early volumes of the Transactions of the Philological Society (TPS). Both the society and its transactions are still very […]
Ornstein Thinks the U.N. is “Feckless.”
Norman J. Ornstein, co-author of The Broken Branch, is a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Below is an except from his recent article at the Huffington Post:
Native Sons of Liberty
Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the editor in chief of The Oxford African American Studies Center. In this New York Times op-ed, Dr. Gates uses a little-known story about the Revolutionary War to demonstrate the role of black patriots in the birth of our nation: ON June 11, 1823, a man named John Redman […]
Creationism’s Trojan Horse
Last year the Kansas State Board of Education adopted a new science curriculum that taught “intelligent design” as an alternative to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Last week the voters of Kansas threw out the board members that had pushed for this new unscientific approach to teaching science, virtually assuring that intelligent design will be stricken […]
Deliberation and Infotopia
By Cass Sunstein What happens when people deliberate with one another? Do they arrive at the truth? Do they go toward the middle? Can we predict the effects of deliberation? A few months ago, I tried to find out, collaborating with David Schkade (of the University of San Diego) and Reid Hastie (of the University […]
Respects for Frederick G. Kilgour
Frederick G. Kilgour, author of The Evolution of the Book (Oxford University Press | 1998) passed away on Monday, July 31st at his home in Chapel Hill, N.C.
In the beginning: hip hop’s early influences
In the mid-1970s the cultural shockwave known as hip hop emerged from the economic paralysis of New York City, especially the neglected neighborhoods in the Bronx. However, while hip hop music was born in New York, it speaks to a long line of black American and African diasporic cultural traditions.
Washington Park Arboretum
Seattle, Washington, USA
Washington Park Arboretum Designed by James Dawson (1874-1941) of the Olmsted Brothers firm, and was founded in the 1930s with funds and labour from the Works Progress Administration, which provided relief during the Depression. Covering 93 hectares/230 acres in the heart of the city, and encompassing collections of Rhododendron, Cornus, Malus, Ilex, Magnolia, Camellia, Sorbus, […]
Stone Circles of Senegambia
Ben’s Place of the Week
Stone Circles of Senegambia Coordinates: 13° 41 N | 15° 31 W Approximate area: 15,000 square miles (39,000 sq. km) Mention stone circles and most people probably think of the photogenic megaliths that beckon tourists to England’s Salisbury Plain. Farther to the south however, along the River Gambia in West Africa, 93 stone circles arranged […]
An Etymologist at a Moment of Soul Searching
By Anatoly Liberman If you have ever written a grant proposal, the form you filled out must have had a question about your methodology. Among the many useless words invented to add ceremony or to the bureaucratic procedure, methodology occupies a place of honor. It is a synonym of method(s) but pretends to have a […]
The New Faces of Christianity
Philip Jenkins, whose latest book The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South will be out in , has an article on the rapidly changing global face of Christianity in the most recent issue of The Christian Century. Here are some of the highlights: Fifty years ago, Americans might have dismissed […]
(Bi)Monthly Gleanings
By Anatoly Liberman In June and July there were several queries about word origins and a general question about the availability of linguistic information, which shows that no heat wave can dry up people’s interest in etymology. Wayzgoose. This word appeared late and is odd because it denotes an entertainment given specifically to printers at […]
Finding My Way from Stonehenge to Samarkand
By Brian Fagan When I sat down to compile my latest book From Stonehenge to Samarkand, I found my greatest inspiration in the writings of a virtually forgotten English writer, Rose Macaulay. Her classic book, Pleasure of Ruins, first appeared in the 1950s and was reprinted with evocative photographs by Reny Beloff a decade later. […]