We were in England last Fall and viewed the first episode of the Downton Abbey's second season; it was everything you've come to expect. Hint: Sympathy for the character of Lady Mary Crawley is emphasized and considering a new character in the life of the estate inheritor Matthew Crawley, that sympathy is well-founded!   If you can't, the first season will be reprised beginning with December 18 of… more »

Biographer Gwinn writes in Emily Greene Balch: The Long Road to Internationalism that Balch “had been fundamental to the life and work of Jane Addams and other settlement and peace workers; she had been an influential teacher, revered friend, a respected scholar and visionary thinker." Dr. Mukherjee, author of Emperor of All Maladies, explains with great clarity just exactly what cancer is, how much we know about it at this point, and possible new directions in which the world of science might proceed to deal with it. more »

I would never, ever become a slave to the soaps, I always asserted, looking down my nose at my weak-minded sisters. Yeah, well never say “never.” It’s time for me to confess: My name is Rose, and I am a Soapaholic more »

Julia Sneden reviews 1493 by Charles Mann and wonders whether it would come up to the standard Mann had set so high with 1491. She writes, "The answer, dear reader, is a resounding 'Yes!' That answer does not, however, come without a few caveats." more »