by John P. Rossi | Apr 25, 2016
Disraeli: The Novel Politician by David Cesarani. Yale University Press, 2016. Hardcover, 292 pages, $25. Reviewed by John P. Rossi Of the so-called “Victorian Giants”—William Ewart Gladstone, Lord Palmerston, Joseph Chamberlain—none have fascinated the public as much...
by Carl Rollyson | Apr 11, 2016
A Loaded Gun: Emily Dickinson for the 21st Century by Jerome Charyn. Bellevue Literary Press, 2016. Paperback, 255 pages, $20. The first part of Jerome Charyn’s title alludes to one of Emily Dickinson’s most enigmatic and powerful poems, which begins, “My Life had...
by Pedro Blas González | Feb 7, 2016
Pedro Blas González Are these indeed men worthy of the name? Walt Whitman, “Democratic Vistas” The Journals of Lewis and Clark is a treasure of American history and exploration. It is also a testament to the strength of character of early American settlers. In 1803...
by Kevin J. McNamara | Dec 21, 2015
Isaiah Berlin: A Life, by Michael Ignatieff. New York: Owl Books, 1999. Paper, 356pp., $16. Isaiah Berlin, who died in 1997, was that rare man of letters who was also a man of the world. If Churchill was the statesman who earned laurels as an historian, Berlin was the...
by Carl Rollyson | Oct 18, 2015
Ted Hughes: The Unauthorised Life by Jonathan Bate. Harper, 2015. Hardcover, 672 pages, $40.Every biography has a backstory involving how a biographer turns to a certain subject, what other biographies have been written, what sources are new or used differently....