YOU KNOW YOU KNOW IT
Since “La Paloma” was composed in the 19th century, it has been covered by everyone from Charlie Parker to Placido Domingo to a couple of Elvises.
Allen Barra writes about books and film for Truthdig, the Atlantic, The Daily Beast, the Guardian, Salon, and the New Republic. He was recently cited by the National Arts and Journalism Awards for literary and film criticism. He has written about sports for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, and Sports Illustrated. HIs book Mickey and Willie: The Parallel Lives of the Golden Age of Baseball was nominated for a PEN/ESPN award for literary sportswriting.
BARDIC TRADITION
Ryan has been called “the king of the new wave of Irish writers” in a country that produces literary superstars more often than Royal family scandals break.
A LOT LESS BLARNEY
Neil Jordan’s “Michael Collins” has earned its place as a classic account of the Irish civil war, while “The San Patricios” is a cult classic that deserves a bigger audience.
AN ISLAND OF STORYTELLERS
And take it from Roddy Doyle: “Ireland is a small island, but there’s more than one way to tell an Irish story.”
THE BEST BRITON?
Erik Larson’s enthralling history of the British prime minister’s leadership during the darkest days of World War II is not likely to be surpassed.
GHOSTS
Because nothing says holiday cheer like tuberculosis and an awareness of our own mortality.
WHO HE?
All the chatter about who will replace Daniel Craig as 007 exposes the central question of who exactly this suave spy is. To answer that, you have to go back to the novels.
DEMYTHOLOGIZING
A new contrarian history sets the record straight: The battle of the Alamo was part of an uprising to extend slavery. And from a military point of view, it was just plain dumb.
ARMCHAIR TRAVELER
The celebrated English author G.K. Chesterton traveled around the U.S. on a lecture tour in 1921. The farther he traveled, the more he saw to like, despite Prohibition.
STAR CROSSED
Patrick Kavanagh wrote a poem about his unrequited love that became the popular song “On Raglan Road,” which in turn helped make Kavanagh perhaps Ireland’s most famous poet.