The Liberal Imagination (1950) by Lionel Trilling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Trilling and http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_4079615/index.html) is one of the most admired and influential works of criticism of the last century, a work that is not only a masterpiece of literary criticism but an important statement about politics and society. Published at one of the chillier moments of the Cold War, Trilling’s essays […]

Henry Louis (‘H.L.’) Mencken (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mencken) was inspired by ‘the argot of the coloured waiters’ in Washington, as well as one of his favourite authors, Mark Twain, and his experiences on the streets of Baltimore. In 1902, he remarked on the ‘queer words which go into the making of ‘United States’. The American Language (1919) was preceded by several columns

What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century? Malcolm Gladwell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Gladwell) has written three books that have

Simon Winchester (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Winchester) examines the legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa), which was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly forty thousand people. The effects of the immense waves were felt as far away as France. Barometers in Bogotá and Washington, D.C., went haywire. Bodies were washed up in Zanzibar.