Reading H. L. Mencken’s book reviews feels like a secret indulgence. One relishes in Mencken’s frequent barbs at the famous and would-be famous (and is thankful that Mencken... Read More

Memphis Tennessee Garrison was a schoolteacher and prominent early figure in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Bickley lets Garrison tell... Read More

In his new collection of poems, Dawes flawlessly weaves in settings and events from the American South, Africa, the Caribbean, and England. Weighing loss against experience, a... Read More

In 1870s England, male and female telegraph operators generally worked together. It was a positive arrangement, the postmaster general believed, because “it raises the tone of... Read More

Lewis is best known as an historical novelist (The Wife of Martin Guerre), though her poetry has been highly esteemed by a later generation of twentieth century writers, most... Read More

“All my friends have settled in mundane places like London, Rome or Singapore. Only you have chosen a truly exotic place to live.” This is what a former classmate of... Read More

The Victorian England of tinted memory—a proud, prosperous nation committed to piety in the home, long hours in the workplace and enlightened rule throughout the empire—has... Read More

In a literary world often inundated with the banal, readers will cherish these poems for their fine sophistication. Pellizon, who won the prestigious Hollis Summers Poetry Prize... Read More

After waiting on a hilltop along the Schuylkill River near Philadelphia for several days for Christ’s return, Clorinda Minor and other followers of William Miller, a Baptist... Read More

In Samyn’s prefatory note to Captivity Narrative, she explains that the structure of the text, “is based on early American “captivity narratives,” accounts of frontier... Read More

In the early 1970s, a series of federal court orders led to the dismantling of Parchman Farm, a prison as legendary—even notorious— as Alcatraz and Sing-Sing. The demise of... Read More

When his childhood friend, Pastor Caleb Troyer, approaches Professor Michael Branden for help, Branden takes on a bizarre kidnapping case. Ten-year-old Jeremiah Miller has been... Read More