Anthony Dean-Harris

Nobel Literature Committee Permanent Secretary Horace Engdahl recently upset many Americans with his comments about our literature, claiming US authors are "too isolated, too insular." Some are clearly finding fault with his statement. The thing is, what if he's sort of right. While it's extremely difficult to determine how many US citizens hold passports, many have surmised that the figure is at most 25% of the national population . Determining how many Americans speak another language is another staggering task . We are an extremely patriotic nation but this allegiance comes to the detriment of our world knowledge. I have to even admit that I'm guilty of this, especially as it pertains to my knowledge of literature. I'm about three weeks from taking my GRE general and literature tests and I'm thinking about how much I never did care for British literature. The other day, my mother was watching a film about Graham Greene and his love affair and ...

I really don't get it. The House not voting for the bailout is like being in favor of a second Great Depression. Someone call Sen. John McCain; surely he remembers how bad the Depression was (I promise, it'll be the only easy "McCain is old" I make this post). Looking into the issue, there was clearly opposition coming from both sides . The thing is, I think those who voted against this bill are more in love with the idea of America instead of the actual America. This measure may very well be starting on "the slippery slope to socialism" as Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex) said in the debate before the bill, but it still doesn't change the fact that this may very well be a necessary measure. As America breaks into the 21st Century, it will have to go through these growing pains. It may have to take on more socialist aspects as its population grows and its citizens grow and need for more. The America of old was a pull itself up by its bootstraps kind of...