Note: Transcription of the President’s musings aloud, as recorded on Susan Wiles’s iPhone when Mr. Trump, drifting off with his eyes closed, was unaware another person was in the Oval Office. It was the day before Ms. Wiles’s unexpected departure
Morality and justice
All Quiet on the Ilium Front
Why don’t leaders battle out their differences and claims between themselves instead of taking their entire nations to war? This question is raised in Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, (1929), which I re-read last week. It is
Revelation on a Steam Train
I said, “Can we open the window?” Sotto voce, Mum said, “The others probably want it closed.” It was the early 1960s. I was eight or nine and traveling with my family to England’s south coast in a steam train’s eight-passenger compartment. The
Forgiveness in a Divided Nation
In a moving speech at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, his widow Erika said she forgives the murderer, Tyler Robinson. Although it could not have been easy, she was in a safe place to forgive because her views align with those of the present
Then They Came For Me
Note: this is a two-part post. In the first, I depict a personal crisis from the Vietnam War protest era. In the second, I reflect on the source of moral courage. 1 In my Connecticut high school sophomore year, our English
The Library of Congress and the State of Publishing Today
1 For most subscribers to this website, this post might seem like a tempest in someone else’s teapot. It is a complaint about recent changes in the Library of Congress’s talking book program designed primarily to benefit visually impaired people.