I mean, Mark Twain practically pushes his source in our face early in Huckleberry Finn, when Tom is trying to explain genies to Huckleberry.

Strangely, while the excellent notes in 'The Annotated Arabian Nights: Tales from 1001 Nights' point to many echoes in English literature, they don't mention the link to 'Tom Sawyer.'

I recommend you get a copy of Steven Lukes & Itzhak Galnoor's 1985 book, 'No Laughing Matter: A Collection of Political Jokes.'

Tickets available for ‘November 4’ through Dec. 7. If you'll be in DC, go see it. If you are one of my journalist colleagues, go write about it.

Broadway Weekly on ‘November 4’: "Danny Paller (Music and Lyrics) and Myra Noveck (Book) tell the story of Rabin's last month in this engrossing musical... 2025 desperately needs the wisdom of 1990s Rabin who wanted Israel to put the possibility of peace ahead of the ineradicability of violence."

That’s precisely why this moment matters. When someone who was long seen as “untouchable” is finally detained, it chips away at the public’s deep-rooted sense that the state can’t enforce the law. It restores a measure of trust, however fragile, in state institutions.

Many in Lebanon believed Zaiter’s arrest would never happen. He is the face of impunity, collected arrest warrants but appeared openly on TV, moved freely, symbolized a state too intimidated to confront the big players. english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-...

Tickets available for ‘November 4’ through Dec. 7. If you'll be in DC, go see it. If you are one of my journalist colleagues, go write about it.

Broadway Weekly on ‘November 4’: "Danny Paller (Music and Lyrics) and Myra Noveck (Book) tell the story of Rabin's last month in this engrossing musical... 2025 desperately needs the wisdom of 1990s Rabin who wanted Israel to put the possibility of peace ahead of the ineradicability of violence."

More on “The Sea” in my recent Atlantic article: www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

If you go to see it, if you bring your family and friends, if you spread the word so that others see it, you will help foil his heinous plan. So you get a great movie and a strike against the government in the same deal

More than that: Culture Minister Miki Zohar is upset that state support for the arts is going to thoughtful films like this. His new formula for state funding for cinema is linked to commercial success in Israel - based on his belief that the public doesn't want to see films like "The Sea."

Agreed.