
On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order claiming to end "government censorship" and restore free speech, accusing the prior administration of pressuring social‑media firms to silence dissent. The order asserts that no federal officer may abridge the speech of any American citizen, while ignoring that First Amendment protections extend to non‑citizens as well. In practice, Trump’s administration has intensified pressure on platforms, demanding the removal of content it deems unfavorable. Critics argue the order masks a broader campaign to control online discourse rather than protect constitutional rights.

S. Yizhar’s 1949 novella Khirbet Khizeh dramatizes the forced expulsion and burning of a Palestinian village during Israel’s 1948 war, drawing on his own experience as a Givati Brigade officer. The real village, Khirbet al‑Khisas, was identified in 1978, confirming the author’s claim...

The early modern diary of Swiss physician Felix Platter, chronicling his teenage journey from Basel to Montpellier in 1552, has been reissued in a new paperback edition. The English translation, originally produced by Seán Jennett in 1961, now features a foreword...

Naomi Baker’s *Voices of Thunder* uncovers a hidden wave of seventeenth‑century English women who wrote, preached, and staged prophetic acts amid religious turmoil. From blood‑stained Quaker protests at St. Paul’s to the radical visions of Seekers, Ranters and Levellers, these dissenters...
Dan Sperrin’s State of Ridicule offers an 800‑page, Roman‑to‑2010s survey of English satire, arguing that satire is fundamentally political and serves as a tool for interpreting power. The book adopts a “longue durée” label but actually traces decade‑by‑decade political events, pairing each...