Steve Donoghue’s posts from the original Open Letters Monthly Archives.
Two thousand years ago, the Roman historian Suetonius wrote about the lives and loves of the founding rulers of the Roman Empire. Historian Tom Holland takes up the familiar story in his new book Dynasty.
Read MoreA failed writer seizes on a most unlikely inspiration for his great book: the catastrophically unlucky life of his best friend
Read MoreA polite conversation by two intellectuals about an explosive subject: the rise of militant Islamic groups throughout the world, and the world's response
Read MoreThe ancient Chinese classic of divination gets a brisk new English-language translation
Read MoreThe venerable sub-genre of the Washington, DC history gets a substantial new update
Read MoreHe had the hair, the Mona Lisa smile, the subtle hands, the loudly fashionable clothing, the bad-boy attitude – it’s little wonder that Christopher Marlowe has been an extremely popular subject for fiction-writers over the years (especially blossoming after 1952, when the portrait we all so badly want to be a 21-year-old Marlowe was discovered). […]
Read MoreA revelatory new volume brings to English-language readers a selection of the verses of St. Petersburg poet Aleksandr Kushner
Read MoreAny batch of new romance novels will certainly feature a few whose narratives are grounded not on people but on places. Their covers feature landscapes and promise to be “A [Location X] Novel,” and a newcomer to the phenomenon might wonder at the appeal. When we look at three of them chosen at random, that […]
Read MoreThe new entry in Oxford University Press' "Great Battles" series focuses on the long and potent afterlife of the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War
Read MoreHow could I not make mention of the fact that Esquire, one of my most steadfast glossy lad-mags, hits its 1000th issue this month? To put it mildly, it’s not every magazine that reaches one thousand issues – hell, there aren’t many writing endeavors of any kind that reach such a milestone (blushing modesty prevents […]
Read MoreIn the latest crime novel from Stuart Neville, two young killers are getting paroled - much too soon for the son of their victim
Read MoreOur book today is On the Vineyard, a 1980 collection of short essays and reflections about Martha’s Vineyard, accompanied by stunning black-and-white photos by Peter Simon, and the impulse that drove me to take it down from my shelf is akin to the impulse that always makes me think of Cape Cod at summer’s end. […]
Read MoreFrom the McCarthy era to the Watergate era and beyond, Mary McGrory ruled the Washington press corps, as a wonderful new book details
Read MoreGrowing up in suburban Illinois, author Michael Clune discovered the world of gaming - and nothing was ever the same again
Read MoreIn his new book, David Brock, foremost champion of the Clintons, comes to the defense of Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
Read MoreOur book today is Arthur Conan Doyle’s immortal The Hound of the Baskervilles,which brought back, in 1901, the beloved character of Sherlock Holmes who’d been killed off nearly a decade earlier by an author who was both bored by his formulaic stories and jealous of his international fame. The events of The Hound of the […]
Read MoreJames Hamilton's fascinating new book looks behind the glorious paintings of the Victorian era at the men who designed the frames, discovered the paint pigments, and heated the galleries
Read MoreThe author of several well-regarded but unprofitable novels about sensitive misfit boys turns to the industry's top money-maker: epic fantasy. Disaster promptly ensues.
Read MoreIn 2012, a trio of Antarctic explorers re-traces the path of a doomed expedition from 1913
Read MoreA stunning debut volume from poet and teacher Robin Coste Lewis
Read MoreThis is a place for all of my writing about books.