Friday's Notes

Michael Dirda reviews Adam Sisman's An Honourable Englishman: The Life of Hugh Trevor-Roper for the Washington Post, 14 December.

Tom Wright, "The Pope's Life of Jesus," TLS, 14 December, reviews Joseph Ratzinger's Jesus of Nazareth. Holy Week: From the entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, Maurice Casey's Jesus of Nazareth: An independent historian's account of his life and teaching, and Bruce N. Fisk's A Hitchhiker's Guide to Jesus: Reading the gospels on the ground.

Sophie Roell interviews "Lynn Hunt on the French Revolution," The Browser, 15 December, for her recommendation of five essential books on the subject.

Brent Staples, "Escape into Whiteness," NYRB, 24 November, reviews Daniel J. Sharfstein's The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Secret Journey from Black to White.

Adam Kirsch, "Whole in One," Tablet, reviews Leora Batnitzky's How Judaism Became a Religion: An Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought and Mitchell B. Hart's Jews and Race: Writings on Identity and Difference, 1880-1940.

Darryl Pinckney, "Misremembering Martin Luther King," NYRBlog, 15 December, reviews Katori Hall's drama, "The Mountaintop," which is playing on Broadway.

Finally, farewell to Christopher Hitchens, a formidable public intellectual.