From the category archives:

Explore the Vault

Underground Railroad

September 5, 2010

When I was researching The First Assassin, I read a number of books on slavery and the Underground Railroad. One of them was Bound for Canaan by Fergus M. Bordewich, which I reviewed for the Wall Street Journal:
The network of abolitionists devoted to helping slaves find their freedom wasn’t described as “underground” for nothing. [...]

Read the full article →

H.G. Wells

August 30, 2010

Five years ago, the reboot of The War of the Worlds hit movie theaters–and I took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal to say that H.G. Wells was “nothing if not a radical who yearned to reshape the fundamentals of human society through books and politics.”

Read the full article →

Giving Pledge

August 23, 2010

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett want the wealthiest Americans to commit half of their fortunes to charity. They’re calling it the “Giving Pledge.” Four years ago, when Buffett announced that he would merge his assets with the Gates Foundation, I wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the key to successful philanthropy didn’t lie in [...]

Read the full article →

Currituck Light

August 16, 2010

My wife and I like to visit lighthouses. Summer used to be lighthouse-visiting season for us. We didn’t lay eyes on any new ones this year and we may not have succeeded last year, either. That’s because we’ve already seen most of the good ones that are within a reasonable driving distance. That includes just [...]

Read the full article →

Illegal Aliens

August 9, 2010

The death of a nun–allegedly killed by an illegal alien who was drinking and driving–may inspire Virginia to follow Arizona laws aimed at reducing unlawful immigration. Earlier this year, I wrote on a Virginia county’s attempts to reduce its illegal-alien population–efforts that now may go statewide.

Read the full article →