By all accounts the poet Robert Frost 1874-1963 was a difficult man moody contrary competitive exacting Not one would have thought a sympathetic subject for a novel It is all the more miraculous then that Brian Hall rsquo s biographical novel mdash historical novel really mdash weaves

If Robert Satloff rsquo s recent book Among the Righteous Lost Stories From the Holocaust rsquo s Long Reach Into Arab Lands 2006 offers a freshly conceived if ultimately stark investigation into the archive of small kindnesses shown the occasional Jew during the Second World War Mimi Schwar

Mary Oliver has done it again She has assembled a collection of poems that is moving intense and evocative in its engagement of the natural world Yet this latest book by the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winner is distinctive among her 17 volumes for the dark undercurrent that runs thro

What is the proper role of an ex-president Should he retire to enjoy his newfound freedom from public life write his memoirs and perhaps attend official functions as might be asked of him Most former presidents have done just that Presently we have three living ex-presidents in the United Stat

New and selected stories from Tobias Wolff, reviewed

Russia rsquo s cultural history in the 20th century presents both ldquo triumph and tragedy rdquo For every masterpiece published or exhibited countless more never saw the light the state mobilized artists and writers to serve its goals but kept them on a short leash ready to break any who da