Citizenship | Literature
Select novels, short stories, and nonfiction on contemporary life.
What began as a bold experiment in grassroots service produced future ambassadors to help guide U.S. diplomacy through seven decades of global upheaval.
Read, Listen, Watch
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If you aren’t following The Nib you’re missing out! Yesterday they featured a slate by cartoonist Jeremy Nguyen featuring new defenses against flying bullets. Because, you know, our elected officials certainly won’t help. Check it out.
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A short block from Maryland’s historic State House, down a white brick street narrow with specialty shops, The Annapolis Bookstore is exactly what a bookstore ought to be: jammed with literature, old and new, on shelves that climb from creaking wood floor to high plaster ceiling. Close with the antiquated must of well-turned pages, yet…
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I watched in suspended horror and fascination as the single-engine Socata bobbed and wobbled just 50 yards from our windshield on the way out to Annapolis tonight. We had a good 15 seconds to watch it fly just above oncoming traffic to our left — put it at 40 or 50 feet over those cars…
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The ugliness caught up with you. Charlottesville rebuked your kind in August. This week, the entire Commonwealth did. I’m not one to gloat, Pepe. I like democracy. I like the free flow of ideas and the First Amendment. I even like torches — especially when carried before the White House to celebrate suffrage for African…
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A dozen years ago when I worked in Saudi Arabia, the government had a habit of referring to domestic terrorists as ‘deranged’ and calling them ‘mental deviants.’ We mocked the Saudis mercilessly for it. The Royals were denying reality. They failed to acknowledge and confront the extremist forces at loose in the Kingdom, extremist views…
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I re-read this old post in light of today’s widely reported allegations against Kevin Spacey. Now I know why the opening credits are so creepy. Think the opening credits for House of Cards is just some anodyne tour around the nation’s capital? Not so. One minute into the 90 second clip the camera pans desolate…
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Among the 53 titles compiled in this Month’s Foreign Service Journal is Dan Whitman’s Answer Coming Soon. Whatever else it provides to those who read it, Answer undeniably will provide this: a reflection on the power of books. The power is especially profound for those who spend their lives in places where electricity can be spotty…
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Seven islands form the area now called Mumbai (Bombay until 1995). Marathi, Hindi, and English are just a few of the languages spoken there, including Bambaiva, a blend of Gujarati, Konkani, Urdu, Indian English, and more. Its home to 18.5 million, India’s most populous city. Rudyard Kipling, Salman Rushdie, and Fareed Zakaria all were born…
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Trust me, this is way better than the animated version of David S Pumpkins. Does Tom Hanks really get to get away with that? Podcasts return to BenEastBooks! First up, Mohan reading The Spider and the Fly, a spooky birthday gift from his aunt. Next up, Vikram reads Poe’s unsettling chiller, The Raven. Listen up!…
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