Literature and Poetry
Culture and Political Watch, The Spirit of Compromise: Why Governing Demands It and Campaigning Undermines It
Jill Norgren writes: "The authors explain this failure of representatives to work together as fallout from the permanence of campaigning in modern American politics. Successful campaigning selects for men and women who present themselves as tenaciously principled agents. These candidates appeal to voters with take-no-prisoner policy positions (refined for local predilections)." more »
CultureWatch Books: The Hemlock Cup and Train Dreams
Bettany Hughes' The Hemlock Cup transcends a mere factual recounting of what we know about Socrates; the book makes the fifth century BC as accessible as possible to a modern reader. Train Dreams protagonist represents a tradition of American men in the as-yet-undeveloped great West who struggled through to their unnoticed deaths after surviving the first World War. more »
Argo, the Movie and Wired Magazine: How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran By Joshuah Bearman
"The mob quickly fanned across the 27-acre [American Embassy] compound, waving posters of the Ayatollah Khomeini. They took the ambassador’s residence, then set upon the chancery, the citadel of the embassy where most of the staff was stationed." The magazine article that provides a basis for the new movie, Argo, details the true story of the five who escaped in the Iranian hostage crisis. more »
Bookfest On Book TV and the Mall: A Weekend of Literature and Authors
The 12th Library of Congress National Book Festival is part of a larger Library of Congress "Celebration of the Book" in 2012 and 2013. If you can't attend remember that C-Span's BookTV is holding approximately fifteen and a half hours of coverage on both Saturday and Sunday, September 22 and 23. How about a BookFest party? more »