Midweek Notes

Nancy F. Cott,"No Objections: What history tells us about gay marriage," Boston Review, Jan/Feb, is based on her expert report in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

In"James Dunkerley on Latin American History," The Browser interviews the Queen Mary University, London, professor about the five books on South American history he'd most highly recommend.

Jeff Nussbaum,"Funny folks, through the ages," Washington Post, 9 January, reviews Paul Johnson's Humorists: From Hogarth to Noël Coward and Willie Geist's American Freak Show: The Completely Fabricated Stories of Our New National Treasures.

Jill Lepore,"The Commandments," New Yorker, 17 January, considers what the Constitution is and what it isn't.

Daniel Rasmussen,"America's Forgotten Slave Revolt," Daily Beast, 9 January, draws on research for his new book, American Uprising: The Untold Story of America's Largest Slave Revolt. Littice Bacon-Blood,"The largest slave revolt in U.S. history is commemorated," NOLA, 3 January, covers local remembrance of the slave revolt. 1811 Slave Revolt is the website.

Daniel E. Ritchie,"Shall I Compare Thee?" Books & Culture, January, reviews Alexis de Tocqueville's Letters from America, edited by Frederick Brown.

Sam Leith,"Theatre of the macabre," Spectator, 8 January, and Andrew Motion for the Guardian, 8 January, review Judith Flanders's The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Reveled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime.

Peter Gordon,"Up From Zero Hour," The Book, 11 January, reviews Mathew Specter's Habermas, An Intellectual Biography.