Friday's Notes

Katha Pollitt,"Cleopatra With Brains," Slate, 18 November, reviews Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra: A Life.

John Steele Gordon,"How Economic Brawn Transformed a Nation," NYT, 18 November, reviews H. W. Brands's American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900.

George Scialabba,"The Critic as Radical," American Conservative, December, takes up T. S. Eliot's radical conservatism.

Samuel Moyn reviews Timothy Snyder's Between Hitler and Stalin for the Nation, 17 November.

James T. Crouse reviews Todd Moye's Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II for THE, 18 November.

Louis Menand,"Talk Story," New Yorker, 22 November, reviews Bill Carter's The War for Late Night.