David D'Arcy, "One LA museum hosts an exhibition in the fine art of giving," The National, 23 August, reviews "Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts," an exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

John Sutherland, "Sounds Familiar," Literary Review, August, reviews Gary Saul Morson's The Words of Others: From Quotations to Culture. In "The Book Bench," New Yorker, 22 August, Jill Lepore wonders if you can distinguish the words of Charles Dickens from those of Edward Bulwer Lytton. One would have thought so, but not so fast!

Carlin Romano, "The Prodigy Burned Out. Why Not Blame Mom?" NYT, 23 August, and Daniel Mendelsohn, "Rebel Rebel," New Yorker, 29 August, reviews Bruce Duffy's Disaster Was My God: A Novel of the Outlaw Life of Arthur Rimbaud and Rimbaud's Illuminations.

Andy McSmith interviews the city's historian, "Peter Ackroyd: 'Rioting has been a London tradition for centuries'," Independent, 22 August.

Zachery Newkirk, "Rewrite, Sugarcoat, Ignore: 8 Ways Conservatives Misremember American History—for Partisan Gain," Nation, 22 August, lists the Republicans' offenses against history.