Things Noted Here & There

Stacy Schiff,"Please Mr. Postman," NYT, 27 November, reviews Thomas Mallon's Yours Ever: People and Their Letters.

Jay Winik,"A New Nation," NYT, 27 November, reviews Gordon S. Wood's Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815.

Andrew Motion reviews Vincent van Gogh's The Letters: The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition for the Guardian, 21 November.

Ange Mlinko,"Angels to Radios: On Rainer Maria Rilke," Nation, 24 November, reviews Edward Snow, ed. and trans., The Poetry of Rilke: Bilingual Edition.

Jonathan Mirsky,"She Who Must Be Obeyed," NYT, 27 November, reviews Hannah Pakula's The Last Empress: Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the Birth of Modern China.

Benny Morris,"Derisionist History," TNR, 28 November, reviews Avi Shlaim's Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations.