In a large ballroom in Williamsburg, Virginia, representatives from around the nation gathered to talk about revolution. With the 250th anniversary of our nation’s battle for independence soon to commence, planners of the American Revolution 250 Commission were discussing how to reignite common cause in Americans through the mechanism of our fight for nationhood. It […]

How can it be that “laughter” and “daughter” not only don’t rhyme but don’t sound remotely alike? What about “tomb,” “bomb,” and “comb”? Meanwhile, “liar” and “choir,” which couldn’t look more different, do rhyme. How and why is the English language so messed up? And why haven’t we done anything about it? In Enough is […]

The best science fiction is either pure spaceships and aliens escapism or intelligent present-day social commentary viewed through a more pliable lens than that available to Charlotte Bronte or even Tom Wolfe. By virtue of its title, Black Mirror is prevented from being the former, so it must succeed at the latter, which it did […]

Many war movies and TV shows feature a climactic scene when a soldier finally breaks. My crisis moment in the Afghanistan War came not from combat stress, but from a TV commercial. I should probably explain. American service members serving overseas have access to Armed Forces Network television. This morale booster is a high priority […]