Some Good Reads ...

Archaeology has an interview with New College of Oxford's Professor Robin Lane Fox. Ordinarily, he professes classical studies in the classroom, but his current gig is advising Oliver Stone in the production of"Alexander". In return for his advice, Fox gets to lead every major charge by Alexander's calvary that Stone films on location. He can have the gig. You can have the film. I want the body armor.

At Books and Culture, Oxford's Albert Louis Zambone reviews Rhys Isaac's new biography, Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom: Revolution and Rebellion on a Virginia Plantation (Oxford, 2004); and my friend, Eugene McCarraher notes the centennial of Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in an essay,"Max Weber and the Enchanted Cage."

Jonathan Yardley reviews two new biographies of Ulysses S. Grant for the Washington Post. Grant has been getting a remarkably positive new look from historians.