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Dante Alighieri is a symbol of Italy and its poetry, but also of the city he was born, Firenze. A proud Florentine, Dante never kept the love he had for his hometown a secret, so why is he buried in Ravenna? Well, because that’s where he passed, of course, but the matter of where his mortal remains should rest was the cause of mystery and diatribes for centuries. Dante rests, today, in a quiet corner of the Emilia-Romagna town, his marble mausoleum protected by sunlight and heat by the leafy beauty of an oak planted by poet and Nobel laureate...

This display shows some of the books that have been banned all over the world as well as well as throughout the US. The words covering the books are the quoted reasons each book was banned. Take a look and see which of your favorite books have been banned and why.

I taught English Literature and Composition at Catholic schools from 1975 until I retired in 2017, including Honors and Advanced Placement. Since that time my hours were filled as a substitute teacher in Northwest Indiana, and I now work as a Jobs Coach for Special Education students in a large public high school. I take troops of students to workplace locations (Al’s Grocery, WINN Machines, LaPorte County Animal Shelter and show young men and women how to wash dishes for an elementary school) and teach them how to comport themselves in a workplace. My charges are mostly Autistic and Downs...

Author Gregory Galloway and Jim Fishman will discuss crime fiction of the 30s and 40s, as well as Galloway’s newly published noir crime novel, “Just Thieves” at 5 p.m. Feb. 12 on Zoom, in a program offered by the Cornwall Library. According to Galloway, “Just Thieves” centers around two recovering addicts who view themselves as “thieves for hire”, robbing houses to take specific objects for a mysterious boss. The specificity of the stolen items ultimately suggests that humans are at the mercy of our desire for ownership. Employing a classic noir theme, Galloway has the protagonists take to heart the...

James Joyce’s Ulysses was first published in 1922, just over two weeks after the British handed over the keys of Dublin Castle to Michael Collins and his new Irish government. The other great literary event of that year was TS Eliot’s The Waste Land. Joyce’s novel had much in common with Eliot’s long poem — it dealt with the rawness of urban life using competing narrative forms, including pastiche and myth and different kinds of voices. The Waste Land sounded a sort of death knell for the narrative poem, just as Ulysses set about killing off the single-perspective, the all-knowing...

Our year in reading, featuring book recommendations from Federalist writers and contributors.Last year around this time, I lamented the end of 2020 with the expectation that better times had to be lurking around the corner. Well, I sincerely hope you had a good year, but it seems like the year was defined by inflation, the Afghanistan debacle, lapsing back into more COVID restrictions, and other disasters.In other words, it was the second year in a row to retreat into a book and at least forget about day-to-day affairs for a while. With that in mind we bring you The Federalist’s...

Often, incoming freshmen receive their first university assignment before the school year even begins: the summer reading. Many institutions see the summer reading assignment as an opportunity for new students to develop a sense of camaraderie. By reading the same book, the idea is that students will engage in thought-provoking conversations and have a shared educational experience. Common reading programs are an opportunity to start students’ education on an intellectual high note. Before the semester even begins, students can begin grappling with good reading material that will prepare them for an academically rigorous time in college. Unfortunately, research from the...

Even the least well-read could probably surmise that Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped involves an abduction, but academic chiefs have nonetheless cautioned undergraduates that the 19th Century classic 'contains depictions of murder, death, family betrayal and kidnapping'. The so-called trigger warning was issued by the University of Aberdeen, which also told students that Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar – written more than 400 years ago and set in 44 BC – features 'sexist attitudes' and has a plot that 'centres on a murder'. Meanwhile, a warning about Charles Dickens's French Revolution novel A Tale Of Two Cities, which famously features the...

Scott Bieser is the author of the libertarian comic series Quantum Vibe. He has created book covers, graphic novels and a ton of webtoons. And I had the opportunity to interview him. Tamara Wilhite: Why are you most famous for the “Quantum Vibe” series? Scott Bieser: Probably because I’ve been at it for a decade, as both writer and artist. All my other projects have been collaborations, usually with L. Neil Smith.

Pro-life Catholic voice Catherine Hadro recently called out a new pro-abortion children’s book for being “full of propaganda and deception” as it attempts to teach young children that killing unborn babies is normal. According to the Catholic News Agency, Hadro, host of the EWTN show Pro-Life Weekly, said authors Carly Manes and “M” use colorful drawings and euphemisms to indoctrinate children through their book, “What’s an Abortion, Anyway?” The authors, who identify themselves as abortion doulas, described their work as a “nonjudgmental book about abortion for children” that seeks to build “a world for kids and adults where abortion is...

Scoundrel, liar, cheat and toady, George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman is a creation of genius and a bracing antidote to our timid agehe brothers Hitchens famously did not agree on very much, but one matter that brought them into rare accord was the genius of the author George MacDonald Fraser and his character Flashman. Christopher wrote in 2008 that “I can remember the mingled shock and glee with which my radical friend Andrew Cockburn and I discovered … that we had both recently fallen for the same author and character. I have met that look, of the confirmed addict and fellow-sufferer,...

Albert Mohler: Professor Morson, you have made the argument that the knowledge of Russian literature is really incredibly important for even modern Americans in 2018. Why is that so, and why is it particularly so related to Russian literature? Gary Morson: Well, there are a number of reasons for this. Partly, they grow out of the facts of Russian history. Russian history tends to the extremes, and in the 20th century, that produced an entirely new form of society, to which we gave the name Totalitarian. That was the product of the thought and actions of a particular group of...

Tamara Wilhite: What are the “Terra-Bravo” novels about? And how many books are in your military scifi “Terra-Bravo Saga” series now? Jeff Fortney: The “Terra-Bravo” novels begin in “Chaos on Terra-Prime” with the United States entering into a “cold” civil war, leaving many of our military personnel stranded overseas. This civil war effectively removes the U.S. as a global power, and terrorist nations around the world take advantage of that absence to spread their dominion over other countries.

This week Liberty Island charted its new course for the future. Click here to read the press release announcing the new books coming out this year, the new team of editors joining, and that I will now be acting as the company’s President, Editor-In-Chief, and Publisher. There are 4 main reasons why I decided to accept the opportunity to lead Liberty Island, relaunching it in this, its now fourth publishing arrangement: 1. I believe in our authors and their books. 2. I want to try and build a new, 21st century independent publishing house which is author and editor-centered. 3....

The daughter of Marion Zimmer Bradley discusses “The Last Closet: The Dark Side of Avalon” “The Last Closet” was written by Moira Greyland. She’s the daughter of Marion Zimmer Bradley, author of “The Mists of Avalon” and Walter Breen. It is Marion Bradley’s book from which the book title is drawn. “The Last Closet: The Dark Side of Avalon” is equal parts autobiography and true-crime thriller with a tragic sprinkling of the history of science fiction fandom mixed in. Moira’s book includes large sections of horrifying personal stories, but she has gone to great length to document what happened. For...

It is true that she could be formulaic, especially in her early books. Miss Marple’s eyes endlessly twinkled and Hercule Poiret kept twirling that famous mustache. What keeps her books readable, though, is that she never cheats (the clues are always there if you know what to look for). That’s the obvious reason. However, I also believe that, despite her formula and repetition, she understood human nature, something that became increasingly obvious as her writing matured. And while the excerpt of the interview with the Bishop didn’t touch upon “expertise” the rest of the Tucker Carlson episode was about the...

The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.

A Stanford professor explains the importance of why “Murder at Full Moon” should be on bookshelves.Long before he became one of America's most-well known novelists, Monterey County icon John Steinbeck wrote three books that were never published. Two of them he destroyed, but the other has remained in the archives, relatively unknown, until recently. The unpublished novel is titled Murder at Full Moon. It’s a murder mystery involving werewolves. “I was really surprised to discover that it wasn't some unfinished draft or some sort of just just wacky experiment. It was a complete novel,” said Stanford profession Gavin Jones....

The attempted denigration of Jane Austen reveals how upscale, white elites view caring about anti-racism as a marker of status.The woke may regret going after Jane Austen. Last month it was reported that exhibits at the Jane Austen Museum were being revamped as staff are“re-evaluating Jane Austen’s place in ‘Regency-era colonialism’ in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests.” This attempt to evaluate Austen according to the American upper class’s current racial obsessions mostly reveals the blind spots those obsessions encourage. Many of Austen’s fans were furious at this attempted denigration of the great authoress. This anger was intensified by...

In Disney’s 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,' the prince does have permission to kiss Snow White. He just doesn’t get it in writing and signed in triplicate.Cancel culture’s latest victim: Snow White. In an article for SFGate, editors Julie Tremaine and Katie Dowd criticized Disneyland’s revamped Snow White ride for including scenes of the movie’s iconic kiss between the prince and a sleeping Snow White.“A kiss,” the authors claim, “he gives to her without her consent, while she’s asleep, which cannot possibly be true love if only one person knows it’s happening.” Horror of horrors! As if being pursued...