David Blight gives us a foretaste of his American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era, which will be published in the fall.

Peter Parker, "E. M. Forster unlocked," TLS, 27 April, reviews Philip Gardner, ed., The Journals and Diaries of E. M. Forster, 3 vols., and Michelle Fillion's Difficult Rhythm: Music and the word in E. M. Forster.

In David Hill's "Two Horses, Two Races: The Civil Rights Movement Goes To The Kentucky Derby," The Awl, 5 May, the KKK and SCLC threaten to run for the roses. Late this afternoon, I'll be standing near the television, with an appropriate libation in hand, and weeping as I sing "My Old Kentucky Home."

Ann Gerhart reviews Janny Scott's A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother for the Washington Post, 6 May.