REVIEW: AMERICA WALKS INTO A BAR by Christine Sismondo

A Spirited History of Taverns and Saloons, Speakeasies and Grog Shops As someone who grew up on episodes of Cheers and lived in a colonial-era tavern and inn, I suppose I might have been somewhat predisposed to be enamored by the subject.  But if you stop to consider, I think most people are.  The gathering…

REVIEW: THE HEAVENS ARE EMPTY by Avrom Bendavid-Val

My introduction to this mystical place was in the film Everything Is Illuminated (based on the book of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer).  While Foer’s story is a novel, it does base its setting of “Trochimbrad” on the real life Trochenbrod.  But why this place?  Of all the lives ended, towns burned, hopes crushed,…