Letter from Berlin: Ashes to Ashes by Stan Persky

It’s been the weirdest couple of weeks in Europe that I can remember in quite a while. The odd natural phenomenon that grabbed everyone’s attention is a cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland. It blanketed Europe and shut down all aviation traffic over the continent for an unprecedented six days (twice as long as the shutdown of American air space after “9/11″). Toward the end of the week, planes were mostly back in the air, and airline officials in London, Paris, and Frankfurt were scrambling... 
[Read more...]

Newest Articles

Letter from Berlin: Ashes to Ashes

Ashes over Europe, ashes under Europe. From continental skies to Polish burial grounds.

Letter from Berlin: Secret Germany

The dead of winter: a good time to look at Germany’s slippery past.

Is Mark Kingwell Getting Dumber?

A “modest proposal” from philosophy professor Mark Kingwell is too clever by half.

Robin Blaser, 1925-2009: Death’s Duty

Remembering poet Robin Blaser.

Letter from Berlin: The Twilight of the Gods

Berlin goes to the polls to vote on, of all things, religion versus ethics.

Read all articles

Newest Reviews

Naomi Klein’s Excellent Adventures

An intrepid reporter covers the capitalist waterfront, from brand name bullies to the Chicago Boys.

Decline and Distraction

On the illusions of empire.

Homeland Alone

Reading the war books of a belligerent decade.

Heroes

Javier Cercas’s story about a story asks, What is a hero?

Indelible

Re-reading the first great American novel of the decade, Philip Roth’s The Human Stain

Read all reviews