Jennifer Cody Epstein’s novel begins on a carnival ride, but proceeds to explore William Tecumseh Sherman’s maxim, “War is Hell.” The general added: “There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all

 With his bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond stimulated discussion over the forces that have shaped humanity. In The World Until Yesterday, the Pulitzer Prize-winner examines tribal and pre-tribal societies for what they can tell us about our own WEIRD (Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic)

John Kennedy Toole, author of the venerated cult classic A Confederacy of Dunces, was (the following may be a well-worn maxim, but its relevance remains steadfast in this case) a brief, bright comet in the dark skies of the literary night...

Foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid had often been praised for bravery in covering Iraq and Libya, but the Pulitzer Prize winner's greatest characteristics were intelligence and insight. Before his death early this year in Syria (from an asthma attack...