Mostly American Notes

John Jeremiah Sullivan,"America's Ancient Cave Art," Slate, 21 March, is a very substantial excerpt from a fuller treatment in the current Paris Review.

Michiko Kakutani,"How George Washington, So Help Him God, Acquired His Many Myths," NYT, 21 March, reviews Edward G. Lengel's Inventing George Washington: America's Founder, in Myth & Memory.

Yoni Applebaum,"The Third Barbary War," Atlantic.com, 21 March, argues that"the real value of historical precedents lies in their ability to unsettle assumptions and upend expectations."

Mark Byrnes,"The United States, Libya, and the ‘Arab 1848'," The Past Isn't Past, 21 March, looks at"the Arab 1848."

Michael Levenson,"Who Is Really a Sex Rebel?" Slate, 21 March, reviews Deborah Lutz's Pleasure Bound: Victorian Sex Rebels and the New Eroticism.

Joshua Freeman,"Remembering the Triangle Fire," Nation, 4 April, marks the 100th anniversary of the fire that mobilized organized labor in New York City.

Ronald Radosh and Steven T. Usdin,"The Sobell Confession," Weekly Standard, 28 March, gives a fuller picture of Morton Sobell's activity as a spy for the Soviet Union. See also: Sam Roberts,"A Rosenberg Co-Conspirator Reveals More About His Role," NYT, 20 March.

Finally, congratulations to Drew Gilpin Faust, who will give the Jefferson Lecture at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on 2 May.