Yes, Ms. President?  

Last year, during the battle for the Democratic Party nomination, the rivals tried to keep both race and gender out of the campaign. After the conventions, with the entrance of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin into the mix, the …





The Turmoil of Life  

Simply by choosing to write a biography of Josephine Herbst, an almost forgotten American writer (1892-1969), Elinor Langer demonstrates both courage and an eye for an unconventional subject. Women who lead “lesser lives” are not sure bets for full-length biographies. …



After the Movement  

In Civil Wars, Rosellen Brown has created a remarkable personal view of the long-term effect of the 1960s civil rights movement on two of its participants. Teddy Carll, a native Mississippian, and Jessie Singer, a “red-diaper baby” from New York, meet …



The Badness of “Julia”  

This is a bad movie. Surprisingly so, since it had a naturally sympathetic subject on which there is likely to be universal agreement in feeling. The reviewers haven’t let on to its failure, perhaps they didn’t notice. Its badness is …