{ feuilleton }

“If you look at what’s transpired in Iraq, Chris, we’ve made enormous progress.” US Vice President Dick Cheney, Fox News interview, January 14th, 2007. A visual depiction of the continuing human cost of the Iraq war, by Adriana Lins de Albuquerque and Alicia Cheng. From the NYT. In January more than 1,900 people—soldiers, security officers [...]

Seamen in great distress eat one another (1685). From Wonderful Prodigies of Judgement and Mercy by Robert Burton. One of those incidents, like witch burnings and other executions, whose quaint period depiction is at considerable odds with what would have been an appalling reality. This picture can’t help but bring to mind Théodore Géricault’s masterpiece, [...]