Hi, Dan...

As you say -- people are being killed anyway, so, if we posit that we will do illegal things, it hardly matters who does the killing, just that there be as little of it as possible of it. -sigh-

Ultimately, what I am most concerned about is that the current chain of events and our reaction to them -- and our leaders' reactions -- is going to kill America regardless of whether the United States survives.

One of the things I'll be ordering for the Young Adult collection this month is a volume in the World History Series called The Collapse of the Roman Republic by Don Nardo. (We have others in the series. Its editorial oversight is very good.) The cataloguer's blurb reads: "Focuses on the often chaotic events and larger-than-life personalities of the fateful last republican century and discusses the power struggles which gave way to a dictatorship." We have little on the Roman Republic in our collection generally, and I have noticed an increased number of assignments focusing on Classical civilizations.

The personal reason I'll be selecting this title: My Classics studies were long ago, but I feel an uncomfortable resonance between that period and the one that we're in now. It's like a voice in my ear at this point, a whisper. I think it may be pertinent to put a historical overview in the YA collection at this time as food for thought.

Maybe some grownups will check it out too.

I may begin to wear black. The effect is slimming, it suits my outlook on the future, and no one can call it unpatriotic. It's only a color.

Best regards--
Mary Anne