Most Read from past 24 hours






East Germany, formally known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), wanted to be a paradise for the common folk. It called itself a “workers’ and peasants’ state.” Its anthem, “Risen from Ruins,” brought to mind a phoenix rising gloriously from the ashes of World War II. From cradle to grave, the East German government cared
READ MORE
I have introduced some feral sheep to the countryside around my property. Not on purpose, mind you. One bright morning a few weeks ago, I was buckling my toddler into her car seat so we could go to church, when she observed that the sheep were on the wrong side of the fence. Twenty minutes
READ MORE
Under her pen name George Elliot, Mary Anne Evans wrote these words in her 1871–72 novel Middlemarch: The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a
READ MORE
I was serving as a Housemaster in an English boarding school when I finally learned the full importance of shoes. Every night after supper the boys would have an hour to complete their homework and get ready for bed. The bedtime ritual consisted of tidying their dorm space, having a bath or shower, brushing their
READ MORE
For my birthday this year, one of my sons gave me an unexpected gift. The brown box, rectangular and less than 2 inches wide, contained another slightly smaller box, black and classy, which in turn contained a complete and original copy of the Thursday, March 1, 1951, New York Times, the newspaper from the day
READ MORE
We were warned. What would happen? Who could we trust? In the era of fake news, “alternative facts,” insult, and innuendo, when the time came…who was to be believed? In the fog of war–even of limited war and tactical skirmishes–the truth splinters into half-truths, conflicting conclusions, and incomplete accounts. On Tuesday, April 11,2017, the Washington
READ MORE