Twentieth Century Notes

Cal State, Fullerton, fired American Studies instructor and Quaker, Wendy Gonaver, because of her refusal, on religious grounds, to sign the state's loyalty oath. See the lengthy discussion of the case at CHE.

Keith Gessen,"Pen and Sickle," NYT, 4 May, reviews Solomon Volkov's The Magical Chorus: A History of Russian Culture From Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn.

David Margolick,"Endless War," NYT, 4 May, reviews Benny Morris's 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War.

Scott Timberg,"Resurrecting Leslie Fiedler, a high priest of pop culture," LA Times, 4 May, reviews Samuele F. S. Pardini, ed., The Devil Gets His Due: The Uncollected Essays of Leslie Fiedler.

Jonathan Yardley reviews Joe Nick Patoski's Willie Nelson: An Epic Life for the Washington Post, 4 May.

The Washington Post's Book World, 4 May, revisits late 20th century American political conservatism:

Lou Cannon,"Goldwater Revisited" reviews William F. Buckley, Jr.'s Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater and John W. Dean and Barry M. Goldwater, Jr., Pure Goldwater.

Rick Perlstein,"Gone Astray" reviews Mickey Edwards's Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost -- And How It Can Find Its Way Back.

Kevin Phillips,"Conservative Camelot" reviews Sean Wilentz, The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008.

Finally,"Your Lying Wallet," The Cunning Realist, 1 May, catches Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve doing plagiarism while doing public policy. Hat tip to Chris Bray.