A particularly strong issue of Granta buoyed by great historical essays, historical fiction, reporting, and a long, humanist story by Alan Gurganus. There's really only a couple of pieces that didn't engage me, along with this issue's recurring photography entry -- another in a long line of dreary photo essays of European villagers.

In a sort of synchronicity, the celebrated war reporter Martha Gellhorn writes of her experiences in Panama in the months after Operation Just Cause, an American invasion and occupation of the sovereign nation of that nation in late 1989. The "just cause" was to remove the military dictator Noriega, but it was primarily to stabilize American interests in the highly strategic Panama Canal region. One can't help seeing parallels to the current Russian Invasion of Ukraine. I'm not saying Putin is justified in his invasion, just saying that similar actions have been taken by our own country and the determination of who are the "good guys" is usually defined by the winner. ( )

allan gurganis blessed assurance
martha gellhorn invasion of panama
jonathan raban new world ( )