The A.P. owes its uniqueness and stature in no small part to its business model.

In its mature form politeness is a species of charity.

Famine has already been declared in parts of South Sudan; Nigeria, Yemen and Somalia are on the brink of it.

“Accidental Courtesy” chronicles Davis’ fascination with the K.K.K., from the 1980s through his current work with the Klan, American Nazis and other white supremacists and separatists.

“What about you?” It’s the question St. Katharine, homegrown saint of the Northeast’s Acela Corridor, heard from Pope Leo XIII.

Rather than being a recent outcropping of American pop culture at its most vulgar, “Wheel of Fortune” is arguably our clearest survival of classical civilization.