Western promises

The latest Believer gets a nice notice from Sharon Eberson in the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Did you know that one of the most popular German authors ever was Karl "Old Shatterhand" May, an ex-con who perpetrated made-up tales of the Old West on gullible European readers? And that one of his biggest fans, who drew inspiration from him throughout his life, was Adolf Hitler?

The tale of Old Shatterhand, the fascinating lead story in the October issue of The Believer magazine, shares cover status with Panda Bear of the band Animal Collective, playwright George Tabori, short-story writer Amy Hempel and Nick Hornby's "Not Boring Awards."

What sold me was the centerfold: Chris Bachelder's chart, titled "When Basketball Imitates Melville," about how the NBA Western Conference Semifinal Game 4, a brawl-game between the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs, mirrored Herman Melville's "Billy Budd."

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Best last line in today's NYT:

"The poor will pluck from her figure whatever they can recycle and sell."
—Somini Sengupta, "A 10-Armed Goddess Charms a Frenetic Megalopolis"