Ron Smith

When My Father

The Teachers Pass the Popcorn

To Ithaca

War and Poets (on Rendezvous with Death: American Poems of the Great War, edited by Mark W. Van Wienen and Poets of World War II, edited by Harvey Shapiro)

Old New Critics (on Speaking of Beauty by Denis Donoghue; Melodies Unheard: Essays on the Mysteries of Poetry by Anthony Hecht; & To Sound Like Yourself: Essays on Poetry by W. D. Snodgrass)

Via Appia

Then, Who Is the Editor of the English Language? (on Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary by Henry Hitchings; Lost for Words: The Hidden History of the Oxford English Dictionary by Lynda Mugglestone; and Dictionary Days: A Defining Passion by Ilan Stavans)

IN Fall/Winter 2006

Rome Obsession (on The Seven Hills of Rome: A Geological Tour of the Eternal City by Grant Heiken, Renato Funicello, and Donatella De Rita; The History of Rome, Books 1-5 by Livy, translated by Valerie M. Warrior; Rome and Environs: An Archaeological Guide by Filippo Coarelli; The Roman Triumph by Mary Beard; Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day by Philip Matyszak; Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter’s by R. A. Scotti; Satyr Square: A Year, A Life in Rome by Leonard Barkan; Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr; Blue Guide: Rome by Alta Macadam; and Not Built in a Day: Exploring the Architecture of Rome by George H. Sullivan)