Discovering the black slave owner: an all-but-forgotten class of men whose lives were beset with the grimmest of ironies … our popular winter art show, back again (and this time you can come see it in the flesh) … Abraham Lincoln’s tormented marriage … why the ghastly Deerfield massacre became a symbol of the whole struggle for North America … seeking the American Bahamas … and, as the first augury of what we hope will be a prosperous New Year, more.