Some see Halloween as a time for pretty outfits and make-believe—“My, what a handsome scarecrow” and the like. Personally, I always looked on the holiday as an occasion for casting ourselves headlong into our fears—of mortality, monsters and the dark—and laughing at the

When Michael Dirda took this summer off discerning readers of The Washington Post Book World were most likely disappointed They enjoy Dirda rsquo s erudite yet accessible reviews each Sunday The range of Dirda rsquo s interests and the breadth and depth of his literary knowledge are quite impress

The distinguished political scientist and historian Jan Gross nails the title of his book with one word fear This is not the first time In 2001 he did the same with Neighbors another one-word title dripping with irony because the book told the story of the July 1941 gruesome murder of the Jew

As the generation that fought World War II began to pass from the scene a proliferation of memoirs oral histories and similar works appeared with the aim of communicating to a generation that had not witnessed it the experience and importance of the event Something like that is happening now tha

Talk about heroic labors To flesh out the tale of his quirky Irish-American theologian Fr Eddie Danaher George McCauley a New York Jesuit invents major chunks of history an imaginary religious order the Christian Fathers founded in the 16th century by a swashbuckling Portuguese explorer-tur

Karen Armstrong rsquo s latest book covers arguably the most ambitious topic that she has yet attempted The scope is vast covering multiple continents cultures and chronologies Hundreds of years dozens of major figures and a landscape that stretches from Mount Olympus to the Great Wall of China