Helen Andrews

Why would anyone want to write a dissertation about black midwifery — wasn’t that subject closed with Gone With the Wind ? How could there be anything to say after “I don’t know nothing ’bout birthin’ babies!” To want more information than that, a person . . . . Continue Reading »

The two worst things that can happen to a mercenary are dying and not getting paid, possibly not in that order. Think of it this way: Plenty of mercenaries have a death-wish; not one has ever had a not-getting-paid-wish. In 1978, “Mad Mike” Hoare was the most famous mercenary in the . . . . Continue Reading »

In 1960, James Q. Wilson was 29 years old and wondering what topic he should choose for his second book. He had narrowed the options down to two, and although he had no way of knowing it at the time, he was extremely fortunate in choosing the one he did—had it gone the other way, Wilson would . . . . Continue Reading »

In the game of Operation that is the blogosphere, James Poulos’s tweezers have hit the metal edge and set the buzzer ringing with “ What Are Women For? ” and its follow-up — and I have a theory why that has nothing to do with feminism. If you believe his critics, . . . . Continue Reading »

“You see this? This is what I’m going to do to your referendum.” Liechtenstein may be a constitutional rather than an absolute monarchy, but don’t confuse His Serene Highness Hans-Adam II with one of those ornamental vestiges of royalty that pass for monarchs in the . . . . Continue Reading »

The city of Savannah, Georgia, has banned snakes from its St. Patrick’s Day Parade because it does not think that inebriation and dangerous animals are a good combination. Obviously that would be a very bad combination. All that remains to be proven, then, is that the sort of snakes Americans . . . . Continue Reading »

It wasn’t quite on the level of Hasselhoff playing the Berlin Wall, but it was certainly inspiring of the band Opeth to decide not to let an armed coup in the Maldives stop them from bringing Swedish death metal to the people of Malé. The police had seized the state-owned TV station at . . . . Continue Reading »

In India, the wildlife-reintroduction scheme known as Project Cheetah faces growing opposition , primarily from supporters of its close cousin, Project Tiger. The two big-cat species cannot coexist and would have to compete for habitat — and more important, the two projects would have to . . . . Continue Reading »

In Paul Fussell’s book about British travel writing, he never says straight out that Robert Byron is his favorite travel writer, but he’s the only author Fussell quotes without commentary for more than a page, so I think it’s safe to assume. The long blockquote is here if you want . . . . Continue Reading »

This article from the U.N. press office certainly has a punchy lede: “Criminal gangs are becoming a threat to the world’s glaciers, which are already receding as a result of climate change.”  . . . the United Nations said today, citing a case in Chile where police are . . . . Continue Reading »