Tony Judt is an American treasure, in time he may prove as great to our country as George Orwell and Albert Camus are to theirs.
history
Arts Interview: The Late E.L. Doctorow — Reduced to Art
“When people ask how I became interested in history, I answer it was through an interest in popular culture and disreputable genres.”
Theater Review: Shakespeare’s “Game of Thrones” — Staged With Gusto
Rarely are Boston’s stages graced with a Shakespeare production that reaches this high a level of accomplishment.
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.
Book Review: The Boston Jazz Chronicles — Indispensible History
Richard Vacca’s The Boston Jazz Chronicles will be a foundational document that other researchers will turn to again and again as they delve into more specific niches of Boston jazz history and unearth as yet unknown artifacts of this era and its neglected body of music.
Book Review: “Fairness and Freedom” — A Study in Binocular History
“Fairness and Freedom” is a cultural/political/social history of the United States and New Zealand in one volume. To the general reader’s likely question, “Why would anyone put the two in one book?”, author’s answer and binding theme is that both former British colonies are open societies with liberal democratic systems, but with a difference.
Book Review: So You Say You Want a Revolution? “Democratic Enlightenment”
Jonathan I. Israel has written a monumental three-volume history of the Enlightenment, approximately 2500 pages long, not including three lengthy bibliographies. His erudition is fabulous; his range is dizzying.
Fuse Book Review: Why Jazz? How Now?
People who love jazz should read jazz history books periodically, and Kevin Whitehead, jazz critic on NPR’s “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, has done a great service in giving us a What, Who, Where, and When book with insight and ingenuity. Why Jazz?: A Concise Guide by Kevin Whitehead. Oxford University Press, 136 pp. of […]