Mike Cosgrave is your host for History Carnival CII, "Flights, Riots and Anniversaries."

Philip Pilkington, "What is Debt?" Naked Capitalism, 26 August, interviews David Graeber about his new book, Debt: The First 5,000 Years. Peter Duffy, "All Mashed Up," The Book, 31 August, reviews John Reader's Potato: A History of the Propitious Esculent.

Jed Perl, "The Taliban's Least Favorite Buddhist Art, Now on View in New York," TNR, 31 August, reviews "The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara," an exhibit at the Asia Society in New York City.

Daisy Banks interviews "Helen Castor on Queens and Power," The Browser, 31 August, for her recommendation of essential reading on the subject.

Bernard Porter reviews Tim Jeal's Explorers of the Nile: The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure.