American failures in Vietnam and Iraq suggest that it's not really possible to create and sustain a proxy government in a country far from our own borders.

I often think that the last holiday is the greatest, but then some really stand out in my mind. One of the best was one my wife and I had in the Lake District. We stayed in a B&B and walked around the countryside for two weeks.

My earliest memories of holidays are from when I was about eight. We lived in Pennsylvania, and every year we'd visit Miami.

Jay Parini Quotes