The Man of the Crowd: Edgar Allan Poe and the City By Scott Peeples (Princeton University Press, 224 pages, $25) The writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) spent his entire life searching for a place that he could call home. Born…
Did we judge 2020’s statue vandals too harshly? Boston’s Martin Luther King Jr.–Coretta Scott King “Embrace” sculpture with any luck coaxes a comeback. Alternatively, locals might imitate their Puritan forefathers, who essentially evicted the only European settler, William Blaxton, from…
In a strike for the First Amendment, the Supreme Court Monday ruled that the city of Boston could not prevent a private group from flying a Christian flag on a flagpole located on government property for a commemorative event when…
In 1903, the Atlantic printed the thoughts of the Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott on why women widely did not, and should not, want the right to vote: In this work of direct ministry to the individual, this work of character-building, which…
It was alarming and embarrassing in equal measure. Halfway through a posh, international dinner party near London, the woman to my left put it to me bluntly: “You’re a functioning alcoholic.” It was quite an accusation, not least since we’d…
A few years back, my wife heard a young woman share that she had felt guilty for being able to go out to dinner with friends in Chicago because she knew her mother in South Africa was struggling to scrape…
Boston is home to some of the greatest historical landmarks in American history, like the Old North Church where Paul Revere started his famous midnight ride. But walk around Boston these days and other churches tell a different story. Churches…
Is Boston, the mothership of East Coast progressives, a hotbed of racism or is the city getting a bad rap? This debate got going again when Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones made national news. He spoke out about being taunted…
Earlier this evening, I attended a vigil at Boston City Hall Plaza in honor of those who died during the ISIS jihadist attack in Orlando. Given the heinous nature of this act which specifically targeted the LGBT community, it is…
As I noted last night, I attended the rally in honor of those who perished at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando at the hands of an ISIS terrorist. What I did not mention was that at the conclusion of the…