Some of us—especially those under 60—have always wondered what it would be like to live through the kind of epochal event one reads about in books. Well, this is it. We're now living history, suffering one of the greatest financial panics of all time. It compares with the big ones — 1907, 1929 — and we cannot yet know its full consequences for the financial system, the economy or society as a whole.

Hat tip.

Howard W. French,"Thinking Globally: America's Rise to Dominance, With Slips Along the Way," NYT, 23 November, and Douglas Little,"Why We Need Diplomatic History," CHE, 28 November, review George C. Herring's From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776.

Michael Chase-Levenson,"Florence Nightingale's Fever," Slate, 24 November, reviews Mark Bostridge's Florence Nightingale: The Making of an Icon.

James Wood on V. S. Naipaul; William Deresiewicz on James Wood.