It is impossible to think of Arthur Conan Doyle without Sherlock Holmes coming to mind as well. Though Doyle was the author of numerous successful works of fiction, today he is recalled almost solely for his creation of the famous... Read More

Cults, sects and esoteric truth-propounders are a constant in American history. While communal groups such as Puritans, Quakers, Shakers and others have earned general approval, prophet-led cults such as the Jonestown host, the Branch... Read More

“Custer’s Last Stand” is perhaps the most famous United States military defeat on American soil. The famed “Boy General” of the Civil War met his match on the banks of the Little Big Horn River in the untamed American West on... Read More

Introducing this collection of nine (as in nine innings) essays, Tygiel hurls a beanball at the intellectuals who over the past couple of decades have reveled in an orgy of mysticism and sentimentality about what should be a pretty... Read More

Small for her age, eleven-year-old Kath is tired of being treated like a little kid. She resents being sent with a younger sister to visit her preacher grandfather, “Grando,” in Peaceable, Illinois, instead of taking what appears to... Read More

Political pundits frequently attribute an election loss or victory to a “regrettable gaffe, the brilliant maneuver, the key endorsement or the bungled strategic move.” Although images of Reagan’s “there-you-go-again” put down... Read More

Some poets spend much of their energy demonstrating how smart and important they are, how much arcane knowledge and how many esoteric skills they possess. Anderson has no patience with such egotism. Her poems are both skillful and... Read More

Few people willingly think about death, but curious browsers who open this lively volume will be exceedingly well rewarded. Twelve scholars, including the editors, offer readers a seamless, unfailingly interesting account of how the... Read More