Readers write: Author Steve Coll’s work, US and world relations, connections across cultures, the comfort of books
Letters to the editor for the April 16, 2018 weekly magazine.
A bookend holds bestsellers in place on a bookshelf at The Book Cellar, an independent bookstore in Lincoln Square on February 7, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois.
Ann Hermes/Staff
Author Steve Coll’s work
The Feb. 7 CSMonitor.com book review of Steve Coll’s “Directorate S” was excellent. A previous book written by Coll, “Ghost Wars,” was one of the finest ever written. He is thorough and informative.
Floyd Stone
Burr Ridge, Ill.
US and world relations
Regarding the Jan. 19 Monitor Daily article “ ‘America First’ at one year: what the rest of the world thinks now”: I understood and appreciated the article. I’d like more insight on and support for how future administrations might restore respect for the United States and its role in world relations. I agree that regaining lost ground will not be easy but is possible.
Julie Hartle
Mountain Home, Ark.
Connections across cultures
When reading the Jan. 22 cover story “My return to China,” I was brought to tears by the connection writer Ann Scott Tyson made with the Chinese journalist in Ritan Park. Encounters with others, especially from other countries and cultures, bring some of the most memorable times in one’s life. The Monitor Weekly and the Daily offer moments of joy and humanity in what can otherwise be troubling times. Keep up your mission!
John Wegmann
Port Angeles, Wash.
The comfort of books
The Feb. 19 Mix column, “In bookstores, volumes of refuge – and resistance,” was a very good article concerning the revival of reading. Although I have my Kindle, the touch and nature of the hardcover or paperback provide one with a sense of gratification and comfort. The accumulative feeling as people glance at their books piling up on the shelves, however, can have questionable adverse side effects.
Leonard Hoffman
London