J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye (1943) is one of the 20th century’s most controversial books along with Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer and D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The controversy stemmed not only from the language which was raw, but also from Salinger’s depiction of an alientated 16-year-old’s point of view—both were unheard of […]
Slavery according to Colson Whitehead: My review of The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead The danger of Colson Whitehead’s fictional treatment of slavery and the system of people who jeopardized their lives to transport escaped slaves north to freedom which came to be known as the ‘underground railroad’ is that people will take as historically accurate his description of slavery and white society in […]
What Cost Diversity? A Review of Heather Mac Donald’s The Diversity Delusion
Heather Mac Donald, The Diversity Delusion; How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture. St. Martin’s Press, 2018 What are we to make of today’s university culture where students may not be subjected to spoken or written words that make them feel uncomfortable, where diversity is achieved by abolishing objective standards, […]
A Gentleman under Communism: A Nice Fantasy
In the Soviet Union in 1922, men who had been counts under the Tzar were either dead or in exile, with one exception. Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, who had returned to Russia from exile to participate in the 1918 revolution, was brought before a tribunal, and when his answers were found wanting, he was confined […]
Bearing witness to the struggle; a review of Bill Kennedy’s Chenango’s Beads and Two-Toned Shoes
I’m reposting columns from a no-longer existing blog. Here’s my review posted Dec. 16, 2011 of Bill Kennedy’s novel, Chenango’s Beads and Two-Toned Shoes: If you’re not convinced that journalists are romantics, you will be after reading William Kennedy’s latest novel, Chango’s Beads and Two-Toned Shoes. Daniel Quinn, a native of mid-century Albany New York, […]