

Literary Review – November 2, 2024: The latest issue features ‘The Making of Handel’s Messiah’; Another Side of Plath; Legends of El Cid; Germany Stalls and Smiley Returns…


Literary Review – November 2, 2024: The latest issue features ‘The Making of Handel’s Messiah’; Another Side of Plath; Legends of El Cid; Germany Stalls and Smiley Returns…
Big-money operatives are taking advantage of lax rules at the end of the campaign to hide the true source of their money until after the election is called — or for forever.
The New York Times unearthed transcripts from Kamala Harris’s years as a prosecutor. Her approach during trials offers hints about how she will make her final case to voters.
Breaking up the C.D.C., moving funds from the N.I.H. — conservatives have floated changes should Mr. Trump regain office.
Judges have vast influence over the biggest political questions. An analysis of President Biden and Donald J. Trump’s nominees found stark differences that could emerge again after November.

The Economist Magazine (October 31, 2024): The latest issue features: ‘What could possibly go wrong?‘
If The Economist had a vote, we would cast it for Kamala Harris
A bigger state but an irrational way to fund it
The Communist Party may be hoarding fiscal firepower to offset a possible trade war
It should not be treated as a disorder
The old order is dying. Our geopolitics columnist will tell you what’s coming next
The New York Review of Books (October 31, 2024) – The latest issue features Coco Fusco on yearning to breathe free, Elaine Blair on Rachel Cusk, Fintan O’Toole on Trump’s predations, Ruth Bernard Yeazell on John Singer Sargent, Michelle Nijhuis on the disasters wrought by remaking nature for human ends, Clair Wills on Janet Frame, Andrew Raftery on the Declaration of Independence, Rozina Ali on evangelical missionaries in Afghanistan and Iraq, A.S. Hamrah on the Trump biopic, Tim Parks on Nathaniel Hawthorne, poems by John Kinsella and Emily Berry, and much more.
Two recent books about our immigration system reveal its long history of exploiting vulnerable individuals for financial gain.
Welcome the Wretched: In Defense of the “Criminal Alien” by César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández
In the Shadow of Liberty: The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States by Ana Raquel Minian
Two new books consider the delusion of the human quest to be free from the constraints of nature.
The Burning Earth: A History by Sunil Amrith
A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places by Christopher Brown
The Islamic Republic’s sordid proxy war with the West may now be leaving it open to an all-out attack as Israel attempts to eliminate its enemies throughout the region.
About 1,000 soldiers from emergency response units deployed to the affected areas, and the death toll was expected to rise after one of the worst natural disasters to hit the country in recent years.
The Pentagon needs what the company offers to compete with China even as it frets over its potential for dominance and the billionaire’s global interests.
In three battleground states, Kamala Harris geared her message toward moderate Republicans and independents, while Donald J. Trump accused Democrats of demonizing him and his supporters.
Donald J. Trump’s anti-immigrant message is exposing longstanding tensions and challenging Democrats’ hopes for solidarity.


Country Life Magazine (October 30, 2024): The latest issue features…
The fashion designer chooses a colourful, cheering scene.

Magnificent Knowsley Hall, Lancashire, has been rescued from institutional use through an admirable restoration project and is once again a home, discovers John Martin Robinson.
Amie Elizabeth White dons a Blue Peter badge to salute the show’s creator, John Hunter Blair.
Our precious rivers hold myriad life forms, yet have been sullied by the hands of humans. John Lewis-Stempel urges us to take care of them.

Dogs, bats and other creatures keep up with the news through sniffing and sensing. Laura Parker reports on the animal kingdom’s telegraph system.
Deep in a glad or underwater, our rarest plants defy discovery. Peter Marren joins the quest.

A cornucopia of delights awaits Tiffany Daneff in Alan Titchmarsh’s Hampshire garden, with secluded seats, ponds and plenty of space for wildlife.
Well-educated and curious, the British tourists with an eye for art laid the foundations of our great collections, finds Michael Hall.

Teresa Levonian-Cole boards the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express to traverse Uzbekistan, a land brimming with art, history and caviar.
And, as always, much much more, including luxury, recipes, interior inspiration and gardens.

London Review of Books (LRB) – October 30 , 2024: The latest issue features ‘What was Bidenomics?’; Jenny Turner returns to Gillian Rose and Julian Barnes – Drinking for France…

Times Literary Supplement (October 30, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Scare Stories’ – On modern horror. Asked why he liked horror films, or terror films as he preferred to call them, Kingsley Amis wrote: “like Mark Twain on a dissimilar occasion, I have an answer to that: I don’t know”. He viewed horror as purely “harmless” entertainment. That explanation might satisfy teenage addicts, but moralists, psychologists and literary critics are inclined to examine the bloody entrails of the genre to divine deeper truths.
Taking the British Revolution out of the Restoration’s shadow By Jonathan Fitzgibbons
The decades before horror became respectable By Mark Storey
How Mary Oliver ‘encourages us to believe’ By Rory Waterman
An Australian vision of the eco-apocalypse By Tom Seymour Evans
With business ties to foreign governments and holdings in industries overseen by federal regulators, Donald Trump would likely be the most conflicted president in U.S. history.
As Donald Trump’s rhetoric grows more extreme, liberals say Kamala Harris is being held, unfairly, to a higher bar by voters and the media. One is “allowed to be lawless while the other one has to be flawless,” a congresswoman said.
Dueling Trump and Harris rallies outside Atlanta offer a case study in how anger and anxiety over Covid-19, a proxy for the larger debate over trust in government, have shaped the 2024 race.
Once a top presidential battleground, the state is lost to Democrats. The party’s missteps, along with demographic change, led to every one of Florida’s 67 counties becoming more red.
As administrations of both parties have failed to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws, a reckoning for the asylum system, which some say is overdue, seems inevitable.
Activists on both sides say Trump could effectively ban abortion nationwide and establish fetal personhood, the longtime goal of the anti-abortion movement.
The inflammatory rally was a capstone for an increasingly aggrieved campaign for Donald Trump, whose rhetoric has grown darker and more menacing.
The novice Republican candidate’s honesty has come into question in a race that could decide Senate control.