It’s almost impossible to think of E.L. Doctorow as underrated. His third novel The Book of Daniel propelled him into “the first rank of American writers,” in the words of New York Times critic Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, and the sensational critical and public reaction to his follow-up book Ragtime ensured that he would stay there. He won major prizes for his novels, including two PEN/Faulkner Awards and a Gold Medal for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2013. He received criticism for how he fictionalized historical figures, and not all his books were critical or commercial successes. But by the time Doctorow published his final novel Andrew’s Brain in 2014, a year before his death, the common consensus was, in the words of George Saunders, that he was “a national treasure.” In 2015, Former President Barack Obama paid tribute to Doctorow by calling him “one of America’s greatest novelists.”
But even adored novelists can have underappreciated strains in their legacies. Doctorow is justly acclaimed for his historical fiction, but not for how often said forays into historical fiction turned out to be crime stories. He filled his books with all sorts of scoundrels and depicted miscarriages of justice, the machinations and murders of gangsters, as well as a memorable investigation into a missing person.
The forgotten divine, the longed-for divine, the ordinary divine—“grandmother’s father’s sister’s best friend’s chocolate barbecued kimchi parathas pumpkin pie stew”—this is what Fu’s characters seek through their fantasies, technologies, and dreams.
Sprawling and wildly ambitious, idiosyncratic and also consistently readable and engaging, “Making History” dives deep into the way history-driven scholars and artists — from Burns to Shakespeare to Herodotus — have shaped the collective memory of humankind. Championing both famous and largely forgotten historians as well as storytellers, filmmakers and photographers, Cohen’s volume offers memorable anecdotes and reasoned judgment as it explores themes including the foundational mythos of the Old and New Testaments, the Roman era, the contributions of history-maker historians from Julius Caesar to Winston Churchill, Black American history from George W. Williams to Ibram X. Kendi, historical works from medieval texts to the New York Times Magazine’s recent “1619 Project,” and the failure of Japan to prosecute war criminals after World War II.
He is a sensitive and articulate polymath who can elucidate ideas with wit, humor, and style. Because, for him, the line between music and life is so permeable, what he has to say is as revealing about life as it is about music. His is a rare talent.
On this Earth Day, it's still an open question to what degree our planet will remain habitable in the coming years.
To increase chances that it will, it's critical to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy internationally, and on the individual level for each of us to reduce carbon emissions stemming from individual habits. These are among the main takeaway messages from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released on April 4.
That report led to worldwide headlines about the climate crisis. Moral philosopher and former journalist Elizabeth Cripps offers an equally urgent message in What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care, published in the U.S. last week: Efforts to contain global warming will succeed only if they are coupled with policies of climate justice.
Leo Cruz makes the most beautiful white bowls;
I think I must get some to you
but how is the question
in these times