With Good Reason

In 1862, poet Walt Whitman went to Fredericksburg, Virginia, searching for his brother George who had been wounded in a Civil War battle. Whitman was so moved by the carnage he found that he worked as a nurse for the rest of the war.   Mara Scanlon and Brady Earnhart (University of Mary Washington) say [...]

Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy, the first Jewish American to reach that rank in the United States Navy, is an unsung hero of American history.  According to Melvin Urofsky (Virginia Commonwealth University), not only was Levy instrumental in the Navy, he also rescued Monticello, the Thomas Jefferson estate, from ruin.  Also featured: David Metzger (Old Dominion [...]

Don Quixote, conqueror of windmills and readers’ hearts, was recently voted the best book of all time in a survey of 100 of the world’s best authors.  It’s the tale of a Spanish knight who reads one too many chivalric romances and takes up a rusty breastplate and sword in search of adventures.  Antonio Carreño-Rodríguez [...]

In her new book “Bible Babel: Making Sense of the Most Talked About Book of All Time”, Kristin Swenson (Virginia Commonwealth University) explains what the Bible is, where it comes from, and shows how people use the Bible to argue today’s most controversial issues.   She also speaks about the Bible’s universality and relevance in our [...]

From Homer to Chaucer to Rita Dove, poetry has plumbed and expressed human strife, love, and everyday realities.  Bob Hicok (Virginia Tech) worked for twenty years in the automotive industry.  His poems explore the lives of family and friends coping with economic devastation in Michigan.  Also: Kevin Shortsleeve (Christopher Newport University) is co-editing an anthology [...]

Recorded before a live audience at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville at this year’s Virginia Festival of the Book, a distinguished panel of award-winning authors discusses and reads from their books: Lee Smith (Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger), E. Ethelbert Miller (The Fifth Inning), Elizabeth Strout (Olive Kitteridge), and Colum McCann (Let the Great [...]

Marc Lee Raphael (College of William and Mary) says our identities are formed by a narrative that we construct about ourselves that is part fiction and part fact.  In Raphael’s most recent book, Diary of a Los Angeles Jew, 1947-1972: Autobiography as Autofiction, the facts are his diary entries. The fiction is how Marc interprets [...]

Philosophers from Epicurus to Charlotte Joko Beck offer insights that may change how we view the world and our place in it. In How Philosophy Can Save Your Life, Marietta McCarty (Piedmont Virginia Community College) introduces ideas from the world’s greatest minds, weaving together the various strands as a tapestry for good living.  Also featured: [...]

Poet Lucille Clifton is widely acclaimed for her powerful explorations of race, womanhood, and spirituality. This June she was honored by the Furious Flower Poetry Center (James Madison University), which brought together more than 40 teachers and scholars to examine the National Book Award-winner’s lifetime of contributions to American poetry.  Also: Hilary Holladay (Virginia Foundation [...]

Wilbur and Orville Wright won a place in history for unraveling the secrets of heavier-than-air flight, but their charismatic sister, Katharine Wright, deserves a lot of credit.  Cindy Wilkey (University of Virginia’s College at Wise) says the brothers, who never married, were shy and reserved and that Katharine devoted her life to running their home [...]