It’s diverting to think what books one would want on a desert island. Social distancing, in its seventh or eighth week depending on where you are, is probably the nearest most of us will come to such isolation. And it’s changed my perspective, tipping the balance toward lighter books that lift the spirit or make one laugh.
This thought arises because I entered the lockdown equipped with bleaker reading than perhaps desirable. I’ve nearly finished Inferno, Max Hastings’s account of World War II, seen from the perspective of ordinary people, not that of governments and grand strategists. It’s a magnificent work, but diaries of people in London, Stalingrad, and Berlin enduring bombardment makes for, not surprisingly, harrowing stuff that doesn’t turn social distancing into a barrel of laughs.
For nonfiction, I‘ve just read The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. John Mandel, author of the excellent 2014 dystopian pandemic novel Station Eleven. Her latest book depicts panic and self-deception among people involved in a Ponzi scheme like that of Bernie Madoff. And I’m listening on Audible to Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day, which delves into the inner lives of young Londoners in an entangling matrix of unrequited love, marriage hopes, and social class.
So, as you see, I didn’t supply myself with light amusement. I’d love to hear recommendations from readers; you can send them to [email protected].
With luck and good judgment by government, we’ll emerge soon from social distancing and get back to somewhat normal life. But just as social life and work have been changed in some long-term ways, so too has America’s perspective on the world.
Our cover story gets to grips with this and what it portends. Under the headline, “Staying in Charge,” Dalibor Rohac, of the American Enterprise Institute, calls on the Trump administration to engage more closely with multilateral institutions that have failed, so the United States can impose its will on them and make them work more effectively for the benefit of our national interest and the good of the world.
Nathan Pinkoski lays bare how the coronavirus exposed European Union solidarity as fiction, and Joel Gehrke examines how different countries handled the emergency. He finds some of them, notably Sweden, offer lessons for the rest of us.
Naomi Schaefer Riley discloses how colleges will need now to emphasize real learning rather than campus amenities, and Rob Crilly makes clear that consumer demand will be key to an economic rebound after the economy reopens. Peter Tonguette suggests that Life magazine, now defunct, was ahead of its time. Joe Simonson reports that news media covering for Joe Biden are actually making it harder for him to avoid answering questions about his alleged sexual assault on a staffer decades ago.
In the Life & Arts section, Rob Long dilates on the benefits of a post-prandial cigar. And, as ever, we end with an obituary — this week of Andrew Wyeth’s wife and artistic muse, Betsy Wyeth.
