More Modern Notes

David A. Bell,"The Colbert Report," TNR, 7 October, reviews Jacob Soll's The Information Master: Jean-Baptiste Colbert's Secret State Intelligence System.

Charles Esdaile,"The Bear Against The Cockrel," Literary Review, October, reviews Dominic Lieven's Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814.

Rachel L. Swarns and Jodi Kantor,"In First Lady's Roots, a Complex Path From Slavery," NYT, 7 October, outlines the genealogical findings of Megan Smolenyak and others into Michelle Obama's family background. Ira Berlin, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Annette Gordon-Reed, and others discuss it.

John Gray,"Behind the Myth," Literary Review, October, reviews Robert Service's Trotsky: A Biography.

Taylor Branch, author of The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President, will be fielding questions at noon today for the Washington Post. Cranky Professor, take note.