Things Noted Here & There

Anthony Grafton,"Scholar and Blogger," The Book, 8 February, reviews Mary Beard's A Don's Life.

Helen Castor reviews Thomas Asbridge's The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land for the Guardian, 6 February.

Peter Ackroyd reviews Felipe Fernández-Armesto's 1492: The Year Our World Began for the London Times, 6 February.

Claudia Goldin,"Tales Out of School," NYT, 5 February, reviews Jonathan Cole's The Great American University: Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why It Must Be Protected.

Richard Brooks,"British Library to offer free ebook downloads," London's Sunday Times, 7 February, announces the BL's plan to release 65,000 19th century works of fiction.

John Carey reviews Michael Scammell's Koestler: The Indispensable Intellectual for London's Sunday Times, 7 February.

Joseph Kanon reviews Charles Pellegrino's The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back for the Washington Post, 7 February.

Andrew Bacevich,"No Exit," The American Conservative, 1 February, argues that the United States has a troubled history of getting into wars and difficulty ending them. See also: John Quiggen,"Bacevich on the American faith in force," Crooked Timber, 5 February, and the discussion there.