holocaust, what holocaust?

[andyfox]

I thought of the 1st and 2nd degree/manslaughter argument myself while typing my previous post. My answer is that there shouldn't be any difference in punishment whether a murder was a crime of passion, whether one lay in waiting, whether one planned or didn't plan the murder. The victim is just as dead either way.

I loved Carl Sauer. I read everything I can get my hands on about Christopher Columbus and Sauer's The Early Spanish Main is terrific. It was reprinted not that long ago, I believe it's still available.

[John Cole]

Andy,

You must read Paul Metcalf's Genoa: A Telling of Wonders. It's one of the finest American novels ever written (and one of the most neglected). Metcalf, the great-grandson of Herman Melville, weaves together a narrative that draws on Melville's writings, Columbus, a story about a brother trying to understand his brother, and various other works, including medical texts. For a brief sample of Metcalf's work, here's a link to his "poem" about Willie Mays.

http://www.thing.net/~grist/l&d/lmetcalf.htm