An atheist turned agnostic considers God

The new Ireland, courtesy of Anne Enright

A history of the destruction of books, reviewed

Dexter Filkins' 'The Forever War,' reviewed

The damage done is deep and chronic.

Older readers mdash well really old readers mdash may recall a ditty sung by the irrepressibly cheerful Dinning Sisters back in 1946 ldquo Soon the sun disappeared from view The stars came out like they always do Then I cuddled up close to you And we both fell in love on a Greyhound Bus T

The dramatic question in the headline above was asked by mdash among many others mdash the Rev John L Girardeau a Presbyterian theologian at a ceremony honoring the Confederate dead from Gettysburg being re-interred in Charleston rsquo s Magnolia Cemetery in 1871 The question was meant rhetori

Primum omnium first of all monita quaedam a few words of warning this book is not for the completely Latinless reader Though almost all the Latin tags and texts are translated many sections will baffle or bore anyone without at least a few faded memories of amo amas amat While popularly

Over a century ago in 1905 an unknown young writer named James Joyce was having a hard time finding a publisher for Dubliners his bitter collection of tales about the home town he had already left physically at least for good Shortly before this in a famous letter to his lover Nora Barnacle

Of all the dizzying questions devised 8220 How did language begin 8221 has to rank near the top Humans plainly learn to speak by imitation but back in the beginning who was there to imitate We can 8217 t talk without a vocabulary and syntax 8212 but where did they come from All the earli