A roman a` clef is a story of real people and real life but one given the gloss of fiction. Somerset Maugham’s The Moon and Sixpence mirrors the life of artist, Paul Gauguin, for example. Tender is the Night by Scott Fitzgerald and Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolfe are two other n

Walter Russell Mead is a serious scholar who writes serious essays. I’ve enjoyed his scribblings over the years and was delighted to find his reviews for two new books in a recent issue of Foreign Affairs: Peace, They Say by Jay Nordlinger and The Global Right Wing and the Clash of

Megan MacKenzie makes a strong case for allowing women to perform full combat roles in the military and calls the current set of regulations discriminatory. (“Let Women Fight” by Megan H. MacKenzie, Foreign Affairs, 11/12/12 pg. 32-42) She adds that women already perform full mili

I just finished another of my Dollar Store book finds. This one was Wheel of Darkness by New York Times bestselling authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I’ve read two others of their works, also Dollar Store finds, Reliquary and Relic. I enjoyed all three of these action packe

Recently, I called my local automobile association because the battery in my car was dead. I’d called twice before in November. This third time the operator asked for my date of birth. Immediately a red flag went up in my mind. My age was going to be held against me and I resented i

Coming as no surprise to Socrates, who banished artists from his utopian Republic, Dan Ariely of Duke University probes the nature of the dishonest mind his is new book, The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty and finds such a mind is rich in creativity. Creativity provides the flexibilit

Having my novels in the public library is a mixed blessing, as I’ve mentioned before. I’m glad for the potential audience but the loss of sales is also a consideration. Publishers face the same dilemma, and the advent of eBooks poses a new twist. Traditional books wear out and nee

A recently released book, The Harm in Hate Speech by Jeremy Waldron, argues that our current laws which permit hate speech focus on legal principles rather than the effect of such speech on people who find their dignity under assault. Waldron points to European countries where hate sp

The 6 mainstream presses in the United States are about to be reduced to 5. Random House and Penguin have decided to merge in an effort to combat the growing power of Internet retailers, primarily Amazon. The presumption is that two large houses combined will emerge more competitive t