Fidel Castro celebrated his 80th birthday on Sunday, a month after handing over power to his brother, Raúl. Fidel’s age combined with his ailing health has many people wondering what kind of changes will happen in Cuba if he dies. On the final page of Cuba: A New History (Yale
“Pain is such an uncomfortable feeling that even a tiny amount of it is enough to ruin every enjoyment.”—Will Rogers In a world where more and more people are voluntarily “going under the knife,” it is hard to imagine a time when anesthesia was frowned upon. In the late nineteenth
“When today we look for ‘American art’ we find it mainly in Paris. When we find it out of Paris, we at least find a good deal of Paris in it.” —Henry James, 1887 Over 100 masterpieces including Whistler’s Mother and Sargent’s Madame X are now on display in the
Yesterday, Cuba’s government announced that its ruler, Fidel Castro, had survived intestinal surgery, but didn’t give any more details about his condition. On Monday evening, Castro, who will turn 80 on August 13, temporarily handed power to his brother, Raúl, before undergoing the surgery. After his surgery, Castro released a
Last Thursday David Lesch, author of The New Lion of Damascus (Yale University Press, 2005), wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post on Syrian president Bashar al-Asad: Syrian President Bashar al-Asad has been a lonely man in international circles of late. Indeed, one of the few Americans with whom
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced on July 18 that I’m Still Here, a documentary based on the diaries of young Holocaust victims, has been nominated for two Emmy Awards. The first category is Outstanding Historical Programming (Long Form), and the second is Outstanding Individual Achievement in
Alan Wolfe, Professor of Political Science at Boston College and author of the forthcoming Does American Democracy Still Work? (Yale University Press; available September 4, 2006), has written the cover story for the July/August issue of Washington Monthly, entitled “Why Conservatives Can’t Govern.” The article, which has attracted significant attention
The 93rd edition of the world’s premier cycling event, Le Tour de France, began last Saturday, July 1. Running until July 23, this year’s Tour will cover 20 stages (including a prologue) and more than 3,600 kilometers until, for the first time since 1999, a rider other than Lance Armstrong
The Observer Music Monthly has just released its list of the 50 greatest music books ever, formed through consultation with its world-class music experts and readers. Included prominently on the list is Evan Eisenberg’s The Recording Angel: Music, Records and Culture from Aristotle to Zappa, with the following description: “How
“With [Thomas] Jefferson I conversed at length on the subject of architecture — Palladio, he said, ‘was the Bible — you should get it and stick close to it.’” – Colonel Isaac A. Coles, 1816 Andrea di Pietro della Gondola (1508-1580)–better known by the name Palladio, after the Greek goddess