I keep saying that leftwing Jewish criticism of Zionism is a movement. Exhibit A is Australian author Antony Loewenstein, who has lately published a book, My Israel Question that is forthright and searing. His travels through Israel and the West…
David Halberstam was unquestionably a great journalist. The Best and the Brightest was a hugely important book in establishing a new mode of serious, writerly investigation. His coverage of Vietnam for the Times in the 60s (inspired by Graham Greene)…
1. Iraqis’ protests over the 12-foot separation wall in Baghdad–that it will promote sectarian divisions and make normal life impossible–cause the American government to abandon the wall, which it had lately begun, to stop suicide bombers. (And the 30-foot separation…
I live in the Hudson Highlands and over ten years have seen three live rattlesnakes in my walks. Today was my most dramatic sighting. I was bushwacking up a sharp incline at about 800 feet, through leaves and branches and…
Iâm an admirer of Ian McEwan because he is such a great storyteller. He knows story structure better than anyone. His books arenât long. They suck you in, set a dark mood, give you a few quickly-sketched intriguing characters, take…
Yesterday my wife and I went to the funeral of a great lady in her 90s, one of my Christian in-laws. In the eulogy, the minister said that he had visited her when she was dying and told her that…
NBC’s logo is everywhere today. The network is branding the Blacksburg, Va., killer’s posthumous documentation with its logo so we all know to whom the murderer sent the material in the mail. So the NBC peacock is right over Cho’s…
125 killed today in Baghdad (4 times the Virginia Tech numbers; how much therapy will the Iraqis get?) The term “civil war” was adopted last fall by journalists and politicians, to describe the violence. Replacing “insurgency.” But both those terms…
Saif Ammous has his comprehensive exam (a big deal, apparently) next Tuesday at Columbia. He’s told me he won’t respond to my comment on the big thread below, nor anyone else’s, till he gets that done. Good luck, Saif. I…