Peter Ibbetson
The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi: The World’s Most Astonishing Number book by Mario Livio reviewed by Christopher Grobe
What do a rose, a falcon’s spiral descent, and Salvador Dali’s “Sacrament of the Last Supper” have in common? As…
Erasmus and the Age of Reformation book by Johan Huizinga reviewed by Susannah Rutherglen
Johan Huizinga, the great historian of late medieval culture, was one of those rare figures in the study of ideas…
Things You Should Know: A Collection of Stories book by A.M. Holmes reviewed by Katherine Poltorak
“I am lost”—a short sentence in the first paragraph of “The Chinese Lesson”— sums up the main theme of A.M.…
Prague book by Arthur Phillips reviewed by Conor O’Toole
Among this novel’s unexpected features is its setting: not Prague but Budapest, Hungary, in 1990. There, a collection of North…
You Shall Know Our Velocity book by David Eggers reviewed by Alexander Benaim
David Eggers’s fiction debut “You Shall Know Our Velocity,” falls staggeringly short of the high mark set by his best-selling…
Versailles: A Novel book by Kathryn Davis reviewed by Sophie Pinkham
In the summers of my youth, I devoured my father’s old children’s books. Among these was a collection of historical…
You Are Not a Stranger Here book by Adam Haslett reviewed by Marisa Knox
Writing about depression is a perilous practice. The temptation in seeking to realistically depict what Macbeth calls “the petty pace”…
The Partly Cloudy Patriot book by Sarah Vowell reviewed by Ellen Thompson
The Partly Cloudy Patriot makes an unusual addition to the bedstands of most readers of American history. In this motley…
Jihad: the Trail of Political Islam book by Gilles Kepel reviewed by Mahbod Moghadam
By December 29, 1999, Abdel Wahab al-Effendi had been convinced of Islamism’s failure. Why should you care? He is a…
Secrets of the Tomb book by Alexandra Robbins reviewed by Emma Pollack-Pelzner
An initiation involving coffins and naked mud wrestling, thousands of dollars given to members upon graduation, and financial support of…