IF YOU don't already know about . . . . . . A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, you probably won't much care that there's a revised edition of H.W. Fowler's classic guide to English usage.   But if you value good writing (or want to...

THAT'S THE REAL name of the French architect who, inspired perhaps by the example of Joseph Jughasvili, pretentiously adopted the name Le Corbusier. The brilliant Theodore Dalrymple says the great man had a totalitarian mindset (he never...

FROM A FEBRUARY essay that holds up well: Even discounting for the impact of global recession, the most populous state's ills are unique and self-inflicted. -- and avoidable. In the last three decades, California expanded the public sector...

THE TIME IT Never Rained is called . . . . . . the Great Texas Novel. It's about a drought in the mid-50s, which I remember. It contributed to the failure of my dad's dairy. We moved to Freeport so he could get a job at Dow Chemical....

. . . the Chronicle should try looking in the mirror. Our local editorialists tugged their beards Sunday over the deductibility of mortgage interest on our our federal income-tax returns. (Editorial, "Debt dangers: Economists say our tax...