-
Weekly Wanderings: January 4, 2026
So … 2026. What a year, huh? 🤨 One good thing: I had the pleasure of serving as moderator for my friend Joseph Torigian at a discussion of his book, The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping, at Three Cats in Clawson, MI this afternoon. Three Cats is…
-
Road Trip Recap: Perry’s Victory at Put-in-Bay
The War of 1812 always strikes me as America’s forgotten war of the 19th century. It’s the reason I know the word “impressment,” and I remember a child’s biography of Dolley Madison recounting the story of how she saved a portrait of George Washington as the British burned the White House. Beyond that, the war…
-
2025 Book Reviews in Review
Have you ever heard someone say “The days are long, but the years are short” about how it feels to raise children? That’s how 2025 has felt to me—kind of a slog on a daily basis, but I can’t believe that we’re now almost at the end. I decided against writing any sort of annual…
-
Weekly Wanderings: December 21, 2025
Here we are—the shortest day of the year, and the final regular Weekly Wanderings post of 2025, although I’ll pop into your inboxes next Sunday with a year in review sort of thing. Thank you to everyone who has read, clicked, liked, subscribed, etc. I already have some writing lined up for 2026, both here…
-
Weekly Wanderings: December 14, 2025
Two housekeeping notes to start: (1) If you’re in Clawson, Michigan, on Sunday, January 4, I’ll be the discussant for a talk by Joseph Torigian on his book, The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping (read my write-up of the book from earlier this year). Tickets are free,…
-
Weekly Wanderings: December 7, 2025
Thanks for joining me this week. Recommendations China Stories Keith Bradsher, “The New York Times Marks the Centennial of Its Shanghai Bureau” Violet Du Feng, “How to Find a Date in a Country With Over 30 Million Extra Men” (video) Oliver Holmes, “‘Don’t say we didn’t warn you’: Beijing summons journalists in Hong Kong after…
-
Weekly Wanderings: November 30, 2025
Black Friday Sale! Small-Business Saturday Savings! Maura’s Cyber Monday Mania! Wait, no, that’s not right. I’ve read those words so many times in the past few days, I forgot that I’m not here to sell anything. Nor do I have a holiday gift guide to share. There’s nothing to buy here, just a handful of…
-
Weekly Wanderings: November 23, 2025
Thanks for joining me this week. Recommendations China Stories The results of an invasion would be catastrophic not just for Taiwan but the entire globe, with as much as $10 trillion in annual losses to the world economy, according to a recent analysis by Bloomberg Economics. It could wipe out over ten percent of global…
-
Weekly Wanderings: November 17, 2025
This week’s post comes a day late and many links short, as I just never got the time to read all the stories I’d been saving. Instead, as is apparent by the number of Goodreads reviews below, I’ve spent most of my free time recently deeply committed to my November novel-reading project. This is not…
-
Weekly Wanderings: November 9, 2025
Greetings from the first snow of the season in Ann Arbor. Although I saw one forecast yesterday that predicted 4-6 inches of snow for us today, it has now settled down to 1-3 inches—enough to make for a picturesque Sunday at home, not enough to make life overly difficult for anyone on the roads. My…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Maura Elizabeth Cunningham 