Posted on by Dave Dentel

Say It Isn’t So, Jeeves! Author Shows Wodehouse was No Nazi Collaborator.

 by Dave Dentel

Anyone who has read P.G. Wodehouse, or watched any of the copious film and television adaptions of his works, knows that the British wit is not just hilarious—he’s delightfully frivolous.

Though his stories and novels do represent some of the best humor writing of a certain era, it’s a stretch to say that they aspire to literary aims such as critiquing society or forwarding any sort of political agenda. For the most part, Wodehouse wrote with one overarching goal in mind—to give his readers a good laugh.

You can imagine how much it dismayed me, then, to learn that for a time Wodehouse’s reputation was tainted by a very serious allegation. This master of upper-class English mirth was actually accused of turning traitor by collaborating with the Nazis during World War II.

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Posted on by Dave Dentel

Indian Scholar: Bible Built the West—Let It Transform the East, Too

Christians in India circa 1870.
By Dave Dentel

It may have been the dust jacket design that threw me off. The title is set in ornate lettering and illuminated with a medieval-style vine-and-serpent motif, which led me to think this was a book about the ancient origins of the Bible and how it emerged in its present form.

Instead, The Book That Made Your World examines a much more familiar theme—how the Bible influenced and accommodated the rise of Western civilization. But what makes it different, and unusually potent, is that its thesis is propounded by an Easterner who sees this historical influence as a good thing.

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Posted on by Dave Dentel

Scholar: American Founders’ Faith as Complex as It was Genuine

By Dave Dentel

Of all the things one could claim about America’s Founding Fathers, among the least controversial is to assert that their bold experiment in democracy also brought about expanded civil liberties—most notably for religious freedom.

But what inspired this achievement? More to the point, just what sort of personal faith did these men adhere to, and how did it affect them?

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Posted on by Dave Dentel

The Birth of Kitty Bomb-Pop and other Revelations from National Novel Writing Month

This scrappy feline (image shamelessly stolen from a t-shirt I bought at Wal-Mart) will be featured in a series of adventures I plan to write, perhaps, during next year’s National Novel Writing Month.
By Dave Dentel

About twelve days into my maiden attempt at National Novel Writing Month and its insane goal of pounding out fifty thousand words in thirty days, I was struck by an amazing insight.

I am failing at this, and it’s all my friend’s fault.

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