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Dennis Lehane at the Brooklyn Book Festival. (Photo by David Shankbone via Creative Commons/Wikimedia)

Dennis Lehane’s ‘World Gone By’

The luck of the Irish versus very bad karma

Will your evil itself kill you, or the evil milieu you have chosen — or will you skate? Dennis Lehane packs a Russian novel's worth of plot and meditations on morality into his newest.

Rick Soisson

May 31, 2015 Articles 3 minute read

Wheeling and dealing. (Photo of Greenfield by Roy Stevens via Historical Society of Pennsylvania)

'The Outsider: Albert M. Greenfield' by Dan Rottenberg

An outsider and a visionary

Rottenberg's biography of Albert M. Greenfield paints an inspiring picture of a man who not only overcame his immigrant roots, but also targeted the anti-Semitism of the Protestant establishment. It does not, however, provide a useful analysis of the tycoon's visionary leadership.

Clarence Faulcon

May 30, 2015 Articles 3 minute read

Brad Pitt in “Killing Them Softly” (© 2011 - The Weinstein Co.)

George V. Higgins: An appreciation

I’ll put three books by the late George V. Higgins up against any three books written by anybody since Hemingway or Faulkner — maybe everybody from Mailer on.

Bob Ingram

May 05, 2015 Articles 4 minute read

Freeman Dyson beholds Luci, a self-contained solar-power lighting device. (Photo by Esther Dyson via Creative Commons/Flickr)

Freeman Dyson's 'Dreams of Earth and Sky'

The iconoclastic generalist

As a scientist who has wrestled firsthand with the moral quandaries of mass destruction and total war, Dyson is quite aware of the seemingly intransigent problems that continue to plague humanity. But he's confident that science, free inquiry, and democracy will yet allow the better angels of human nature to prevail and prosper.

Mark Wolverton

May 01, 2015 Articles 4 minute read

Steven Pinker’s 'Sense of Style'

It's not that hard, people

Steven Pinker’s explication of the underlying sense of English grammar and advocacy of clear prose make his Sense of Style a must-read for anyone who wants to be a better writer.

Judy Weightman

Apr 18, 2015 Articles 3 minute read

Erotica goes mainstream in “Fifty Shades of Grey” (© 2014 - Universal Pictures)

Philadelphia's Erotic Literary Salon

Forbidden words

With the release of Fifty Shades of Grey, everyone’s talking about sex, even if they haven’t seen the movie. At the Erotic Literary Salon, writers have been talking about sex for years.

Naomi Orwin

Mar 07, 2015 Articles 5 minute read

'Impromptu Man: J.L. Moreno and the Origins of Psychodrama'

Theater as interpersonal encounter and spontaneous experience

This fascinating book about psychodrama founder J.L. Moreno written by his son, Penn professor Jonathan D. Moreno, covers many aspects of 20th-century life and thought, including improvisational theater. Although the book bears a great deal on the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and self-help/personal growth, this review highlights Moreno’s contributions to theater and dramaturgy.

Victor L. Schermer

Mar 03, 2015 Articles 5 minute read

Steven Pressfield's 'War of Art'

Battling the demons of Resistance

The title of The War of Art, a little book on how to break through creative blocks and finish projects, is apt because author Steven Pressfield doesn’t pull any punches.

Michael Lawrence

Jan 20, 2015 Articles 4 minute read

Stone’s characters were drawn forth and succored by darkness and nightmare. (Photo © Larry D. Moore via Creative Commons/Wikimedia)

A flag for Robert Stone

Remembering novelist Robert Stone, who died on January 10.

Bob Levin

Jan 20, 2015 Articles 2 minute read

'Death Comes to Pemberley'

Using Austen's characters for nefarious purposes

Phyllis Dorothy James died recently at the age of 94. While her most recent book was a murder mystery based on Pride and Prejudice, she is better served if you remember her for all the work that went before.