By Vice Adm. Robert F. Dunn
With the bicentennial of the War of 1812 soon upon us, a plethora of books on the subject are in the market. Some treat individual actions or single theaters. Some deal with politics, and some deal with diplomacy, but “1812: The Navy’s War” deals with it all. Published December 19, 2011 Comments
By William Murchison - Special to The Washington Times
If a title like “Scorpions for Breakfast” doesn’t suggest anything particular about the author’s persona and purposes, well, let me merely recommend a second cup of coffee. Published December 16, 2011 Comments
By Priscilla S. Taylor - Special to The Washington Times
That long subtitle is a good indicator of the comprehensive approach Stuart Isacoff takes to “the most important instrument ever created.” The instrument’s development is traced to Bartolomeo Cristofori, a keyboard technician in Florence, who was commissioned by Ferdinando de’ Medici, the grand prince of Tuscany, to improve on the harpsichord. Published December 16, 2011 Comments
By Muriel Dobbin - Special to The Washington Times
It might be titled “Pride and Prejudice and Murder.” And if that has a familiar ring for the global legions of Jane Austen admirers, it should. Published December 16, 2011 Comments
By Martin Rubin - Special to The Washington Times
They key word in the title of this beautifully and intelligently illustrated book is “world.” Indeed, it might just as well have been called “Department Stores of the World,” for its focus is on the worldwide nature of this merchandising phenomenon. The great stores of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles get their due, as do those of Paris (where they began), London and Berlin. Published December 16, 2011 Comments
By James Srodes - Special to The Washington Times
Do not, I repeat, do not read this book if you plan to savor the coming 11 months of political blather-skating by our apparent seekers of high office. For if you have read this book, their pious sloganeering and obfuscations during the campaign debate orgies may cause you to kick the cat across the room and do violence to your new flat-screen television. Published December 14, 2011 Comments
By Sol Sanders
The principle problem with this concise book is, of course, that the whole drama continues. I write as British Prime Minister David Cameron has just dropped a bomb into the laps of his 26 European Union partners by refusing to go along with a new treaty aimed at reinforcing economic integration and solving the crisis of the 17 members’ common currency, the euro. Published December 13, 2011 Comments
By John Greenya - Special to The Washington Times
In the good old bad days, you could count on a private detective being a brawler, a drunk, and a sexist pig. Today, it's rare to encounter a shamus who has even one of these "failings." (And you'd be slammed for using that antiquated label to describe him.) Published December 11, 2011 Comments
By Martin Rubin - Special to The Washington Times
One thing you can count on with British novelist Monica Ali is that she will not give you the same kind of thing over and over again. Her second novel, "In the Kitchen," a portrait of life in and around a large central London hotel, was startlingly different from her first, "Brick Lane," a study of a Bangladeshi immigrant neighborhood in the citys east end. Published December 11, 2011 Comments
By John Greenya - Special to The Washington Times
Novelist Charles Frazier clearly agrees with Robert Frost's description of woods as "lovely, dark and deep," especially the dark and deep part. Published December 9, 2011 Comments
By Larry Thornberry - Special to The Washington Times
Surely I'm not the only reader amazed at how downright boring professors, assorted "experts" and too often even the reverend clergy can be when addressing some of the more basic forces in our lives. Published December 9, 2011 Comments
By Martin Rubin - Special to The Washington Times
Quite early in this look back at a life spent among artists and musicians, Rosamond Bernier lets drop a telling anecdote, where Aaron Copland confides to her about a youthfulLeonard Bernstein: "We don't have to worry about THAT one." Published December 9, 2011 Comments
By David A. Keene - Special to The Washington Times
The Los Angeles Times' Jim Newton wrote "Eisenhower: The White House Years" because he thinks Dwight David Eisenhower just doesn't get the credit he deserves. Published December 7, 2011 Comments
By Ray Hartwell - Special to The Washington Times
Stephen Hunter is a prizewinning journalist who, until his recent retirement, was chief movie critic for The Washington Post. In addition, for about three decades, Mr. Hunter has moonlighted as a novelist, well-known for entertaining fiction recounting the exploits of Vietnam War sniper Bob Lee Swagger and Bob Lee's father, Pacific war veteran and Arkansas sheriff Earl Swagger. Published December 6, 2011 Comments
By Joseph C. Goulden - Special to The Washington Times
Aaron Burr ranks among the most reviled characters in American history - an astounding fate for a Founding Father who came within a hair's breadth o f the presidency in 1800. Although he was never convicted in court, the term "traitor" is indelibly linked to his name. Published December 5, 2011 Comments
By John R. Coyne Jr. - Special to The Washington Times
Condoleezza Rice served her country for eight intense years, four as President George W. Bush's national security advisor, four as his secretary of state - years in which our national life was altered profoundly and our place in the world challenged by movements and forces swirling out of remote regions of the world. Published December 2, 2011 Comments
By Philip Kopper - Special to The Washington Times
A decade after reading Tony Horwitz's "Confederates in the Attic," I have one lasting memory of hilarity at Rebel re-enactors bedding down on blankets all in a row on frozen ground (grown men on a Civil War sleepover) - along with wonder at the kinship between the Confederacy and folks who honor its memory. Published December 2, 2011 Comments
By Larry Thornberry - Special to The Washington Times
In this thin volume, Daniel J. Flynn tells of an era that, if not exactly prelapsarian, was a time when a fair number of regular, walking-around Americans showed interest in the intellectual tradition of the West, and a small number of artists and thinkers catered to this desire for knowledge Published December 2, 2011 Comments
By Charles Hurt - The Washington Times
Democrats finally find a tax cut they can abide, and so both sides agree to ...
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times
The House officially voted Tuesday to start negotiations with the Senate on the payroll-tax fight ...
By Laura Crimaldi - Associated Press
A Massachusetts man was convicted Tuesday of conspiring to help al Qaeda and plotting to ...