THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Book Reviews
Until Proven Safe: Quarantines Then and Now: Review
Quarantines of people, produce and even the mail have long been a weapon against infection. They can also used against people.
July 16, 2021
The “Bloody Flag”: Seas of Unrest
In the fraught late 18th century, mutiny was a constant threat to the British, French and Dutch fleets of the North Atlantic and the Caribbean.
September 22, 2020
Sons of the Waves Review: Jack Tar, His Own Story
Samuel Johnson remarked that being on a ship was like being in a jail “with the chance of being drowned.”
May 15, 2020
“What We Did in Bed” Review: How We Hit the Hay
A consideration of the bed—site of countless births, deaths and famous last words—as a prop with which to elaborate upon the “theater of life.”
October 24, 2019
Endeavour Review: The Floating Laboratory
She was outfitted with 22 guns and cutting-edge instruments: sextants, azimuth compasses and telescopes to observe the 1769 transit of Venus.
May 17, 2019
America’s First Unsolved Mystery
Is it possible that the missing colonists of Roanoke chose to “remain lost” and forge a life apart from English civilization?
June 17, 2018
Islands that never existed inspired adventurers to undertake quixotic trips with tragic consequences.
April 5, 2018
What to Give: Books on History
A. Roger Ekirch recommends the best books to give the history buff in your life
November 18, 2017
While mutineers succumbed to half-clad Tahitians, Capt. Bligh performed a navigational feat—and convicts began populating Australia.
November 19, 2017
Hell afloat in Wallabout Bay. The Jersey, a British warship docked off Brooklyn during the American Revolution, served as a prison where some 11,500 perished.
August 23, 2017
Vermeer’s interiors showcase Turkish rugs and brass chandeliers rather than spittoons and chamber pots.
Sept. 26, 2015.
Text messages, pop-ups, robocalls—there is no shortage of claims on our attention. How can we reclaim our interior lives?
April 29, 2015
Habits of Highly Inventive People
Leonard Bernstein believed pressure spurred creativity. To “achieve great things,” he suggested “a plan, and not quite enough time.”
April 3, 2014
From princes to popinjays, a catalog of historical curiosities to delight during every hour of the day.
Dec. 20, 2013
In our haste to embrace a 24/7 lifestyle, nocturnal hours once reserved for sociability, reflection and rest have been usurped.
July 26, 2013
Planes, Trains and Orbital Spacecraft
'Ferdinand Magellan,' a college student once wrote in his final exam, "was the first explorer to circumcise the Earth." Not quite.
Dec. 14, 2012
To the detriment of body and soul, we live at odds with our innermost predilections.
April 27, 2012