Apparently, 'conspiracy stuff' is now shorthand for unspeakable truth.

Americans are not only a less homogenous population than we were when we were 3 million ex-colonists, but we're less educated. On top of that, we have constant misinformation and manipulation by media.

Never offend an enemy in a small way.

Ideally, the writer needs no audience other than the few who understand that it is immodest and greedy to want more.

A talent for drama is not a talent for writing, but is ability to articulate human relationships.

What is in question is a kind of book reviewing which seems to be more and more popular: the loose putting down of opinions as though they were facts, and the treating of facts as though they were opinions.

I suppose my liking for Italy is partly atavism, my family are of the old Roman stock. They came from the Alps north of Venice.