Carthage Must Be Destroyed

In some alternate universe, it was Carthage, not Rome, that reigned supreme in the ancient Mediterranean. In our world, of course, the North African empire was destroyed, its history relegated to footnotes. Richard Miles lays out eight centuries of Carthaginian glory in an engrossing book replete with larger-than-life personages, dramatic battles, and unprecedented cultural accomplishments.

May 24: Carson McCullers's The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Works was published on this day in 1951. Included in this omnibus edition were most of the pieces upon which her reputation now stands, putting her in a rank…

Do you recall the tagline from the very first Superman movie? "You'll believe a man can fly!" Well, I'm tempted to craft such a hyperbolic assertion for China Miéville's…

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