At Mercurius Politicus, Nick hosts XLIV, an early modern edition of the festival.

John Sweeney,"The killing fields," New Statesman, 23 October, reviews David Loyn's Butcher and Bolt: Two Hundred Years of Foreign Engagement in Afghanistan.

Jay Winik,"Young America's Wild Side," NYT, 24 October, reviews David S. Reynolds's Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson.

"New York Times Endorsements Through the Ages," NYT, 23 October, is a timeline of the NYT's presidential endorsements from 1860 to 2008. Rob Farley hits the highlights at Lawyers, Guns, and Money, 24 October.

David Greenberg,"Presidential Firepower," Slate, 24 October, explains"how FDR saved capitalism in eight days."

The few survivors of the Spanish Civil War's International Brigade were honored yesterday in Barcelona, just as judge Baltasar Garzón seemed to open the door to prosecution of the surviving henchmen of Francisco Franco's regime.

David Garrow reviews Nicholas Katzenbach's Some of It Was Fun: Working with RFK and LBJ for the LA Times, 24 October.