Dispatches from Vilnius

Happy New Year everyone! If the new year is on its way, then spring can't be far behind.

I really like the directions the Library of America is taking.  Many new fine additions such as this collection of critics on The American Stage .  You will soon be able to get the Collected Plays of Tennessee Williams in a boxed set as well.

One of my favorite Christmas stories is O Henry's classic .  Here's the story as seen in Full House .  Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays.  Thanks so much for making this forum possible.  Merry Christmas!

Happy Solstice everyone! It only gets sunnier here on out.

This new series by Library of America looks very promising.  The first volume is due out in February.

Taibbi has become one of the most recognizable voices in the assault on Wall Street.  Also, one of the more entertaining ones.  Here is an excerpt from his recent book, Griftopia , from the Rolling Stone, and a review from Businessweek .

The writings of John Kenneth Galbraith are a long deserved addition to the Library of America.  The edition binds American Capitalism, The Great Crash, The Affluent Society and The New Industrial State all into one volume.  You can find most of his writings on the Internet but still it is nice to have a volume like this to leaf through and absorb his writings.

In between quoting Churchill and reminiscing on his childhood days, Rummy apparently promises some good fodder from his days in the White House in his upcoming memoirs .  It should provide some amusing barbs if nothing else.  But, what is it about this guy that reminds me of Adolf Eichmann?

You don't see this name come up very often, so it was nice to see Pinckney Pinchback recalled in This Day in History .  One can only imagine the unrest that swirled around Louisiana in 1872. He didn't hold office for very long, one month.  Nice to see that Pinchback stood up for Charles Sumner when a motion was made to condemn all Republicans who voted against U.S. Grant.

If you haven't noticed, I have a thing for graphic novels. The Library of America has really outdone itself this time, collecting Six Novels in Woodcuts by Lynd Ward.  He is widely credited as the father of the modern graphic novel and the first to do a novel entirely in woodcuts.  Here is a sample of his work from  Gods' Man , 1929.

In Race and Reunion , David Blight demonstrates that as soon the guns fell silent debate over how to remember the Civil War began. In recent years, the study of historical memory has become something of a scholarly cottage industry. The memory of World War I reflected in monuments, novels, and popular culture has been examined by numerous European historians. A book on how New Englanders remembered King Philip's War against local Indians won the Bancroft prize a few years ago. What unites these studies is the conviction that memory is a product of history. Rather than being straightforward and unproblematic, it is “constructed,” battled over, and in many ways political. Moreover, forgetting some aspects of the past is as much a part of historical understanding as remembering others. Blight's study of how Americans remembered the Civil War in the fifty years after Appomattox exemplifies these themes. “Race and Reunion” is the most comprehensive and insightful st...

Now with Colonel Roosevelt , the magnum opus is complete. And it deserves to stand as the definitive study of its restless, mutable, ever-boyish, erudite and tirelessly energetic subject. Mr. Morris has addressed the toughest and most frustrating part of Roosevelt’s life with the same care and precision that he brought to the two earlier installments. And if this story of a lifetime is his own life’s work, he has reason to be immensely proud.  -- Janet Maslin -- NY Times . Let the discussion begin!