Ancient, Early Modern & Modern Things

Welcome Evan Goldstein, staff editor for CHE's Chronicle Review, as the new editor of Arts & Letters Daily. Goldstein,"Inventing Israel," Tablet, 13 October, 2009, a sketch of Israeli historian, Schlomo Sands, and Goldstein,"The Trials of Tony Judt," CHE, 6 January, on the late, great Europeanist, are good examples of his own journalism. His posts for the CHE blog, PageView, have recently featured Kevin Matson, Stephanie Coontz, Ed Ayers, Linda Gordon, Jill Lepore, and Eric Rauchway.

A. C. Grayling for the Barnes & Noble Review, 24 January, and"Philosophy as Inspiration," Economist, 27 January, review James Miller's Examined Lives: From Socrates to Nietzsche .

Alasdair Wilkins,"The Greek engineer who invented the steam engine 2,000 years ago," io9, 25 January, introduces Hero of Alexandria, who first invented a steam engine, a robot, and much more ....

Helen Castor,"The death-throes of the Wars of the Roses," TLS, 26 January, reviews Desmond Seward's The Last White Rose: Dynasty, rebellion and treason – the secret wars against the Tudors and Michael Hicks's The Wars of the Roses.

R. C. Richardson reviews Kevin Sharpe's Image Wars: Promoting Kings and Commonwealths in England, 1603-1660 for the THE, 20 January.

Richard Overy reviews Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin for the THE, 27 January.

Kenneth Slawenski,"Holden Caulfield's Goddam War," Vanity Fair, February, is an excerpt from Slawenski's new biography, J. D. Salinger: A Life.