For evidence of a so-called cultural vibe shift, the pendulum swing away from the extreme sensitivity and irrational wokeness of the preceding decade, look no further than Lionel Shriver’s new novel, A Better Life, a blunt but layered—and entertaining—depiction of America’s once-lax immigration policies. First, cast your memory back to the dawn of this decade,

REVIEW: ‘Cromwell’s Spy: From the American Colonies to the English Civil War: The Life of George Downing’ by Dennis Sewell Today, Sir George Downing is remembered, if at all, for the street and row of brick houses in London that bear his name. This happens to be the address of Britain’s prime ministers, the place

Despite favoring sometimes-ghastly subjects, overly calculated lyrics, and eminently unhummable music, composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim was something of a conservative when it came to acknowledging his forebears. In Sondheim’s case, that chiefly meant lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, who gladly accepted the role of substitute father to the boy then known as Stevie—a comprehensively unhappy child of