The Modern State of War

Warnings by Denise Spellberg of the University of Texas History Department apparently led to Random House's cancellation of plans to publish Sherry Jones' novel, The Jewel of Medina, about the prophet Mohammad and his wife, Aisha. It was to have been a Book-of-the-Month Club selection for August. Spellberg explained her concerns in a letter to the Wall Street Journal, 9 August.

Adam Kirsch,"Adjusting the Theory of Just War," NY Sun, 20 August, reviews Gary Bass's Freedom's Battle: The Origins of Humanitarian Intervention.

Harold Holzer,"When Lincoln Became Lincoln," NY Sun, 20 August, reviews Lewis Lehrman's Lincoln at Peoria: The Turning Point.

Eric Ormsby,"A Man and his Gun," NY Sun, 20 August, reviews Julia Keller's Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It.

20th century below the fold ...

Timothy Snyder,"Nazism's dialectic of death," TLS, 13 August, reviews Mark Mazower's Hitler's Empire: Nazi rule in Occupied Europe.

Richard J. Evans,"Under Siege," NY Sun, 20 August, reviews Michael Jones's Leningrad: State of Siege.

Bryan Burrough,"A Civilian Action," NYT, 10 August, and Jonathan Turley,"How a Jihadist Curtailed a President's Authority," NYT, 21 August, review Jonathan Mahler's The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight Over Presidential Power.