Encounters at the Heart of the World

The Mandan tribes who clustered along the Missouri River, and who entered history books via their association with Lewis and Clark, have found their Homer and Edward Gibbon in Elizabeth Fenn, who richly brings to life their culture and daily trials.

Bending Adversity

The curious case of contemporary Japan—a country beset by disaster and economic challenge, while remaining cohesive and proud—is finely explicated by David Pilling, the Asia editor of the Financial Times.