George Orwell reached Barcelona in the final days of 1936 with a side already chosen. Fascism was the enemy. He joined a militia, went to the Aragón front, and was later shot through the throat.Then people on his own side began lying about what he had seen. Newspapers reported battles where no fighting had taken place. Men who had fought bravely were described as cowards and traitors. The POUM militia in which Orwell had served was accused of working for Franco. The facts had

Some men reach the next chapter and need a clean page. Others discover they have been skimming the page they are already on. Two Ways to Refuse a Finished Identity David Bowie and Leonard Cohen offer two very different versions of how a man can continue developing without treating his previous life as a clerical error. Bowie changed shape. Cohen stayed with the material until it yielded something deeper. One moved through identities, sounds, cities, clothes and collaborators.

By late 2002, Johnny Cash could no longer manage the road. Autonomic neuropathy, diabetes and repeated bouts of pneumonia had weakened his legs, reduced his breath and taken much of his sight. Concerts meant dark backstage passages he could barely navigate, followed by the familiar procession of planes, cars and hotels his body could no longer tolerate. Larry King asked whether he was bitter. Cash said no. Asked about a cure, he replied: “There’s no cure for life either.” The