TODAY: In 1940, poet Robert Pinsky is born.
- On the 50th anniversary of the seminal antiwar protests at the Pentagon, a look back at how Vietnam changed America: Voice-of-a-generation (and documentary) Peter Coyote talks to Clara Bingham about narrating a history he was a part of · How Oriana Fallaci’s interview with Henry Kissinger changed the course of history · Maya Lin only got a B+ for designing the most important war memorial of the 20th century · Philip Caputo wrestles with one of the dirty secrets of war: it can be as compelling as it is ugly · When my brothers heeded Ho Chi Minh’s call to resist the French. | Literary Hub
- At Oslo’s House of Literature, a free space for ideas and culture (we could use some of this in America). | Literary Hub
- From a neurosurgeon’s memoir to the prequel to Practical Magic, here are the best-reviewed books of the week. | Book Marks
- Rumaan Alam on Other Men’s Daughters, which sounds, “when summarized. . . like a parody of a novel by a mid-century man of letters.” | The New Yorker
- Carrie Mae Weems on her favorite books and her ideal library, which would have books on the floors, wall to wall, and floor to ceiling, plus a chair. | The Paris Review
- “Officially, Bishop had the honor of representing poetry in America, but she was also in many ways a prisoner of her desires, keeping her head down and determined to avoid the next raid.” On the loneliness of Elizabeth Bishop. | The Nation
- “I morphed from the kind of woman you’d find in my own writing—idea-driven, with aspirations—into the kind delivered by conventional corporate Hollywood: body-conscious.” Monica Drake recalls her brush with fame. | Longreads
- How connected do we really want to be? A computer scientist on why we need speculative fiction. | LARB
- “There was a bomb at Fox’s house that would go off if they didn’t follow instructions.” The true crime story behind Barbara Loden’s cult feminist classic, Wanda. | Topic
- Why Kirkus changed its review of American Heart: a deeply unsatisfying explanation. | Vulture
