The Birth of Joy Division

The Birth of Joy Division

The Joy Division story has been told many times, yet it never stops seeming too bizarre to be true. Jon Savage, best known for his classic punk history, England’s Dreaming, was one of the band’s first chroniclers in the 1970s, but he tells the tale in a new way in his excellent new book This Searing Light, The Sun and Everything Else. It’s the ultimate […]

The Pantheon (Rome)

The Pantheon (Rome)

The eighth wonder of the ancient world The Pantheon in Rome is a true architectural wonder. Described as the “sphinx of the Campus Martius”—referring to enigmas presented by its appearance and history, and to the location in Rome where it was built—to visit it today is to be almost transported back to the Roman Empire […]

Petra: The rose red city of the Nabataeans

Petra: The rose red city of the Nabataeans

There is only one true way to experience Petra—the greatest city of the Nabataeans, a people who occupied the area from Sinai and Negev to northern Arabia in the west and as far north as southern Syria. On foot or mounted on a camel, one should leave the modern village of Wadi Musa in modern-day […]

A short story about killing

A short story about killing

I decided to kill. Perhaps it is better say I have always known that. When I was a little boy I always wanted to kill my teacher of music. I wanted that not because I hated her or because I had a bad mark from that subject, on the contrary, I loved her and I […]