I recently returned from my first visit to Las Vegas, and naturally I was charmed by the various location-themed resorts: New York, New York; Paris, Las Vegas; The Venetian; and many more, with their outlandish designs and so-tacky-it’s-good approach to décor and entertainment. Yet I couldn’t help but wonder: Why not a hotel devoted to my kind of hometown? After all, if travelers enjoy the security of lunching at McDonalds in the shadow of the Pyramids or patronizing the Hard Rock Café in Beirut, surely they’ll enjoy my proposal: the Suburban.

Winston Groom reviews Tiny Terror, the new book about the legendary Truman Capote. It turns out, the author of Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood was not only a great writer, but an excellent liar as well:

In a new documentary, John Lennon's last personal assistant, Fred Seaman, reveals that by the end of his life the Beatles star was in fact a closet Reaganite, according to contactmusic.com. If true, this would indicate quite an astonishing political conversion: 

Check out Jonathan D. Horn's review of Lincoln on War, Harold Holzer's latest addition to the more than 16,000 books about our sixteenth president. The book focuses on Lincoln's thoughts and speeches about war, and Holzer has pieced together a narrative that allows the reader to follow the president's thought process as he leads the nation through the most difficult period of its brief history:

The summer issue of National Affairs has just been published. Highlights include: 

Fred Barnes on "Lessons from Canada."

Jay Cost on "The Republican Challenge."

Seth Lipsky on "What Is a Dollar?"

Last year I gave a reading in New York City, and talking to people afterwards I was struck by how many were also travel writers, or at least survivors of a travel-writing course. It was refreshing to be around literate travelers. At home in Florida I usually address seniors, who like to ask me about cruise lines.

Enough Already

First Family

Abigail and John Adams

by Joseph J. Ellis

Super 8

Directed by J. J. Abrams

Monarchy Matters

by Peter Whittle

Don’t look now, but the fiscal mountain blocking our path is rockier than usually advertised. Why? Because even if House Budget chairman Paul Ryan prevails on every contentious detail of his long-term plan for prosperity, family fragmentation​—​more severe in the United States than in any other industrialized nation​—​will make it more difficult than generally assumed to balance our books. 

The Turbulent World
of Franz Göll

An Ordinary Berliner Writes the Twentieth Century