The heresy trial of Charles Augustus Briggs The word “heresy” probably calls to mind images of the Inquisition, medieval times, and burnings at the stake. All of those things should have passed away centuries ago, we might think, with the coming of the Enlightenment and its eventual victory over the Western mind and outlook. So • Read More »
Archives: journalism
The inverted mystery, the role of “influencers,” and a couple of reminders from last week: newsletter, September 29, 2023
September 29, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, history, journalism, newsletter, writers, writing.This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (3,070) on Friday, September 29, 2023. The word “influencer” has been surfing on my brain waves lately. It’s a new word, but of course, an extremely old concept. It showed up recently in a Washington Post article that examines the way the lobbying organization for • Read More »
Edward Stratemeyer, a book about the Polly Klaas case, and more about AI: newsletter, September 22, 2023
September 22, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, journalism, newsletter, writers, writing.This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (3,070) on Friday, September 22, 2023. Since writing about AI (artificial intelligence) software last week, I have discovered something of a “development” in the world of publishing with regard to AI. Amazon, by far the world’s largest bookseller, is asking publishers/authors: Did you use AI • Read More »
The woman who created the modern superhero, one more from Futrelle, and a new daily devotional podcast: newsletter, September 15, 2023
September 15, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, history, journalism, newsletter, writers, writing.This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (3,070) on Friday, September 15, 2023. For the past few months, it seems, the world has divided itself into three warring camps: those who believe that AI (artificial intelligence) is the greatest thing since sliced bread; those who think AI is a moral abomination and • Read More »
Britain’s secret assassination squads, more on JFK, and journalists covering crazy statements: newsletter, September 1, 2023
September 1, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: baseball, books, fiction, history, journalism, newsletter, writers, writing.This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (3,070) on Friday, September 1, 2023. People should be careful about what they say, about the words that they use. That’s a bit of age-old wisdom that good parents teach to their children. Sometimes people say crazy things, and everyone who hears what they say • Read More »
Jacques Futrelle: The Mystery of a Studio
August 23, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.I WHERE the light slants down softly into one corner of a noted art museum in Boston there hangs a large picture. Its title is “Fulfillment.” Discriminating art critics have alternately raved at it and praised it; from the day it appeared there it has been a fruitful source of acrimonious discussion. As for • Read More »
Jacques Futrelle: The Silver Box
August 23, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.“REALLY great criminals are never found out, for the simple reason that the greatest crimes—their crimes—are never discovered,” remarked Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen positively. “There is genius in the perpetration of crime, Mr. Grayson, just as there must be in its detection, unless it is the shallow work of a bungler. In this • Read More »
Jacques Futrelle: The Leak
August 23, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.“Really great criminals are never found out, for the simple reason that the greatest crimes—their crimes—are never discovered,” remarked Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen positively. “There is genius in the perpetration of crime, Mr. Grayson, just as there must be in its detection, unless it is the shallow work of a bungler. In • Read More »
Jacques Futrelle: The Mystery of the Scarlet Thread
August 21, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.I THE THINKING MACHINE—Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph. D, LL. D., F. R. S., M. D., etc., scientist and logician—listened intently and without comment to a weird, seemingly inexplicable story. Hutchinson Hatch, reporter, was telling it. The bowed figure of the savant lay at ease in a large chair. The enormous head with • Read More »
David Ignatius and the understandable espionage novel, Obama’s stand against book banning; newsletter, August 4, 2023
August 4, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, history, journalism, newsletter, writers.This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, August 4, 2023. My recent reading has taken me into the Book of Exodus and the story of the descendants of Abraham in Egypt. This story was first written down nearly a century before the time of Christ, and in oral tradition, • Read More »
G.K. Chesterton: The Incredulity of Father Brown: The Ghost of Gideon Wise
July 21, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.Listen to this story here on LibriVox.org FATHER BROWN always regarded the case as the queerest example of the theory of an alibi: the theory by which it is maintained, in defiance of the mythological Irish bird, that it is impossible for anybody to be in two places at once. To begin with, James Byrne, • Read More »
G.K. Chesterton: The Incredulity of Father Brown: The Dagger with Wings
July 21, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.Listen to this story here on LibriVox.org FATHER BROWN, at one period of his life, found it difficult to hang his hat on a hat-peg without repressing a slight shudder. The origin of this idiosyncrasy was indeed a mere detail in much more complicated events; but it was perhaps the only detail that remained to • Read More »
The Dreyfus affair, more Chesterton, and plenty of reader reaction: newsletter, July 21, 2023
July 21, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, journalism, newsletter, writers, writing.This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, July 21, 2023. A couple of Saturdays ago, I made the “supreme sacrifice.” Saturday is my day to meet some of my friends for breakfast, and we get there as soon as the restaurant opens at 7 a.m. But on this • Read More »
The NYC Shakespeare riot of 1849, Alan Furst, and a bit on college admissions procedures: newsletter, July 14, 2023
July 14, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: baseball, fiction, history, journalism, newsletter, writers, writing.This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, July 14, 2023. College admissions procedures have, once again, become big news. A recent Supreme Court decision has “outlawed” some “affirmative action” procedures by those who determined who gets in and who doesn’t at certain colleges and universities. I have put some • Read More »
Sarah Howe, gay rights activist Frank Kameny, and more of G.K. Chesterton: newsletter, July 7, 2023
July 7, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, history, journalism, newsletter, writers, writing.This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, July 7, 2023. If you search for “the most spoken word in the English language,” as I did recently, you will come up with a variety of interesting results. I had a particular candidate in mind, and I wanted to see if • Read More »
Why writing is important to the writer
June 17, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.Shane Parrish of the Farnham Street blog has written a short (two-minute read) essay on why writing is important. It is packed with insights about writing. It is also a powerful argument against the so-called “artificial intelligence” writing software we hear about so much these days. He says: Writing about something teaches you about what • Read More »
A special offer on Women With Words, Chesterton on wedding vows, and the most dangerous female spy: newsletter, June 2, 2023
June 2, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, journalism, newsletter, writers, writing.This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, June 2, 2023. Some years ago, I had a colleague—a man I liked and deeply respected—who asked me to read and edit an article that he was writing. He was a good writer, and I willingly took on the task. As I • Read More »
G.K. Chesterton: The Incredulity of Father Brown: The Curse of the Golden Cross
May 27, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.Listen to this story here on LibriVox.org Six people sat around a small table, seeming almost as incongruous and accidental as if they had been shipwrecked separately on the same small desert island. At least the sea surrounded them; for in one sense their island was enclosed in another island, a large and flying island • Read More »
G.K. Chesterton: The Incredulity of Father Brown: The Miracle of the Moon Crescent
May 27, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.Listen to this story here on LibriVox.org MOON CRESCENT was meant in a sense to be as romantic as its name; and the things that happened there were romantic enough in their way. At least it had been an expression of that genuine element of sentiment— historic and almost heroic—which manages to remain side by • Read More »
G.K. Chesterton: The Incredulity of Father Brown: The Oracle of the Dog
May 27, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.Listen to this story here on LibriVox.org YES,’ said Father Brown, ‘I always like a dog, so long as he isn’t spelt backwards.’ Those who are quick in talking are not always quick in listening. Sometimes even their brilliancy produces a sort of stupidity. Father Brown’s friend and companion was a young man with a • Read More »