David Glenn,"Scholars Hope Obama Will Bring Change to the NEH," CHE, 30 January, looks at expectations for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Dinitia Smith,"Dying and Death: When You Sort It Out, What's It All About, Diogenes?" NYT, 29 January, reviews Simon Critchley's The Book of Dead Philosophers.

Debby Applegate,"Intellectual Selection," NYT, 29 January, reviews Barry Werth's Banquet at Delmonico's: Great Minds, the Gilded Age, and the Triumph of Evolution in America.

Caroline Preston,"Still Life, with Scissors and Glue," Washington Post, 1 February, reviews Jessica Helfand's Scrapbooks: An American History; Jonathan Yardley reviews Bryan Burrough's The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes and Michael Dirda reviews Kitty Burns Florey's Script and Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting for the Washington Post, 1 February.

Finally, farewell to John Patrick Diggins, a maverick historian of American thought.