In Extremis is required reading not only for anyone interested in war, but for anyone interested in how an unusual woman makes her way in the world.
biography
Book Review: “The Songs We Know Best” — The Youth of Poet John Ashbery
This book captures — beautifully — poet John Ashbery’s youth and dreams and struggles.
Book Review: The “Inexhaustibility” of Angela Carter
May this superb biography, The Invention of Angela Carter, spark more interest in this amazing writer, especially in the United States.
Book Review: A Biography of T.S. Eliot — Before, During, and After “The Waste Land”
In this excellent biography, Robert Crawford succeeds admirably in detailing T.S. Eliot’s early intellectual development.
Book Review: A Well-Rounded Look at Napoleon the Man and the Myth
Andrew Roberts has succeeded in a single volume in reconciling the two faces of this historical colossus.
Fuse CD Review: Jay-Z’s “Magna Carta Holy Grail” — More Miss Than Hit
Those cynical about the album’s extravagant promotional campaign will be glad to hear that Jay-Z’s latest studio effort is very hit-or-miss.
Fuse Book Review: A Compelling Look at the Life of Poet John Keats
There is a steadiness about Nicholas Roe’s writing that is deceptive; the life in the Life does not jump off the page, but it accumulates during the reading so that something of what it felt like to be around John Keats remains, as things do when truly experienced.
Arts Commentary: Not Just Shakespeare — “Anonymous” Wrongs Ben Jonson As Well
Fuse Book Review: A Puzzling Look at the West, Islam, and The Convert
If you are going to write about this very charged subject, the West and Islam, why would you choose as a representative of that great and ancient culture a woman who is stunted emotionally, clearly unreliable, and probably mentally unstable?
Fuse Interview: Helen Epstein Interviews Herself — Joe Papp Biography Goes Electronic
Author and Arts Fuse Contributor Helen Epstein explains why she decided to take her 1994 biography Joe Papp: An American Life and convert it into an eBook—given what may be the precarious future for the traditional book, she “wanted to save it for posterity.” By Helen Epstein. AF: Joe Papp died in 1991. Why publish […]