Julia M. Klein

‘The Declaration’s Journey’ Review: The Founding Document’s Freedom Trail Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution traces the complex legacy, at home and abroad, of the Declaration of Independence.

A new exhibition in #Philadelphia assesses the impact of the #DeclarationofIndependence. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

Thanks, Jack.

To play in the orchestra in Auschwitz was a gruesome affair, but it was better than the alternative In her new book, Anne Sebba traces the grim history of 'The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz.'

To play in the women's orchestra in Auschwitz was a gruesome affair, but it was better than the alternative forward.com/culture/book...

Move Mixer

On the choreographic journey of #Penn alum Jennifer Weber: thepenngazette.com/move-mixer/

Review: Bad ‘Hamilton’ grade aside, a young Lin-Manuel Miranda overflowed with creativity Daniel Pollack-Pelzner conducted more than 150 interviews for his portrait of Lin-Manuel Miranda, a joyous artist who absorbs useful lessons from nearly everything he hears, reads and sees.

www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
A new biography is revelatory about Lin-Manuel Miranda's early life and creative efforts.

Their country has been riven by war, corruption, and extremism. How do the people of Afghanistan keep going? - The Boston Globe Burrowing into both Afghan family life and the country’s convoluted politics, Åsne Seierstad's "The Afghans" follows three people over several decades, culminating in the dramatic first year of the Ta...

In case you were wondering about the transition to #Taliban rule in #Afghanistan
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/29/a...

Review | ‘The Man No One Believed’ recounts a shocking murder and delayed justice Joshua Sharpe’s book is about the killing of a Black couple in 1985 at a Georgia church and the wrongful conviction that eventually resulted.

Joshua Sharpe helps free an innocent man — and tells the tale.

Amid the terror of war in Ukraine, a stirring debut novel demonstrates the power of love and art Set amid the terror of war in Ukraine, Wachman's debut is a novel of unmistakable authenticity and empathy.

forward.com/culture/book... Sam Wachman takes readers inside Ukraine in his debut novel.

Amid the terror of war in Ukraine, a stirring debut novel demonstrates the power of love and art Set amid the terror of war in Ukraine, Wachman's debut is a novel of unmistakable authenticity and empathy.

Amid the terror of war in Ukraine, a stirring debut novel demonstrates the power of love and art forward.com/culture/book...

‘The Man No One Believed’ recounts a shocking murder and delayed justice

‘The Painter’s Fire’ Review: Pictures From a Revolution During the struggle for American independence, artists on both sides of the Atlantic were moved to capture the moment in paintings and sculpture.

Reclaiming obscure Revolutionary artists' lives. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

They nurtured the fantasies of millions of readers — did they also pave the way for Donald Trump? In Michael Grynbaum's latest book, magazine moguls Si Newhouse Jr. and Alexander Liberman preside over the creation of a tastemaking empire.

They nurtured the fantasies of millions of readers — did they also pave the way for Donald Trump? forward.com/culture/book...

Trust Boosters

Philly's #MutterMuseum tackles the #pandemic, #vaccination, and the issue of trusted messengers. thepenngazette.com/trust-booste...

Survival Story

A 97-year-old #Holocaust survivor tells his amazing story. thepenngazette.com/survival-sto...

Between ‘the Drive to Forget and the Obligation to Remember’ Argentina’s unfinished reckoning shows how difficult it can be to recover from state terror.

My travels to Argentina, and a book on the children stolen during the Dirty War, and the situation here at home -- all in an essay in The Atlantic www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

‘The End Is the Beginning’ Review: Her Mother’s Days, Unspooled Jill Bialosky’s story of her mother’s life seeks to understand a complicated woman by moving in reverse.

Reviewing a lovely Jill Bialosky memoir on a complicated mother. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

Review | ‘The Scrapbook’ considers the weight of history on a modern love The first novel by Heather Clark, an acclaimed biographer of Sylvia Plath, is about a Harvard senior who falls for a seductive German visitor.

Heather Clark's debut novel, "The Scrapbook," tries to wed WWII history with a contemporary love story. wapo.st/3TDXcd2

Review: Poignant Desi Arnaz bio spotlights drive and showbiz innovations of Lucy's comic foil Desi Arnaz played comic foil to his off-screen wife on 'I Love Lucy.' Behind the scenes, he revolutionized the TV business, as Todd Purdum outlines in his poignant biography.

Review: Poignant Desi Arnaz bio spotlights drive and showbiz innovations of Lucy’s comic foil www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Department of Plunder

Pam Jenoff's latest historical fiction takes on a Nazi concentration camp -- in a Paris furniture store. thepenngazette.com/department-o...

Review: In this novel inspired by G.W. Pabst, Leni Riefenstahl is among the bit players Daniel Kehlmann's 'The Director,' inspired by G.W. Pabst, grapples with the dangers of artistic complicity, in his case with Nazis during World War II.

Daniel Kehlmann's "The Director" takes on the exigencies of art and the politics of artistic complicity. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Love best your quote about Fred & his “unassailable intellect.” He was my dear friend in college and beyond, and his early death was devastating.

‘Last Seen’ Review: Separated by Slavery After the Civil War, those torn from loved ones and family members by slaveowners placed newspaper ads in the hope of reunion.

After the Civil War, the formerly enslaved spent decades searching for long-lost relatives and friends. Judith Giesberg follows their trails in "Last Seen." www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

‘Tangled Fortunes’ Review: The Legal History of Interracial Marriage Laws that forbade interracial unions were not uniform in their prohibitions—and were selectively enforced.

Until Loving v. Virginia, in 1967, states could (and did) ban interracial marriages. Nevertheless, some of these couples persisted. Kathryn Schumaker discusses the history of interracial marriage in Mississippi in "Tangled Fortunes." My review in the Wall Street Journal.

Review: What to do when family history is radioactive? Work around stonewalling relatives Joe Dunthorne, author of 'Submarine,' doggedly researched his Jewish ancestor's scientific work benefiting the Nazis. His relatives didn't want to talk about it.

NBCC member @juliamklein.bsky.social reviewed Joe Dunthorne's "Children of Radium" for the Los Angeles Times:

What was the Jewish record on slavery? It's (very) complicated. Richard Kreitner's 'Fear No Pharaoh" unpacks the myths surrounding Jews and slavery in and around the Civil War and its aftermath

What was the Jewish record on slavery? It's (very) complicated. forward.com/culture/book...

From an Italian Holocaust survivor, a Kafkaesque nightmare of imprisonment under fascism Set in the Lanciano internment camp, Maria Eisenstein's 1944 memoir 'Internee Number 6' is a testament to the power of writing.

From a #Holocaust survivor in Italy, a Kafkaesque nightmare of imprisonment under fascism forward.com/culture/book...

Jersey Boy

Will Connell finds his voice in #"JerseyBoys."

Edelman Fossil Park & Museum Review: Curating the Cretaceous A new museum at Rowan University in southern New Jersey—an area of considerable paleontological significance—offers a compelling look at the end of the dinosaur age.

A new museum of dinosaurs and other Cretaceous creatures in South Jersey offers site specificity and authenticity.

Review: What to do when family history is radioactive? Work around stonewalling relatives Joe Dunthorne, author of 'Submarine,' doggedly researched his Jewish ancestor's scientific work benefiting the Nazis. His relatives didn't want to talk about it.

My family story intersects, ever so slightly, with Joe Dunthorne's. I review his investigation of his Jewish great-grandfather's Nazi-era activities -- involving gas masks and chemical warfare -- for the Los Angeles Times.

Art Tools and Nature Machines

Carl Cheng shows how "Nature Never Loses" at Philly's ICA.