Heartbreak comes in different sizes, and the departure of an 18-year-old child for a far college has to be treated as a very benign form of the disease. Jonathan Raban benignchildcollege Change image and share on social
At night, what you see is a city, because all you see is lights. By day, it doesn't look like a city at all. The trees out-number the houses. And that's completely typical of Seattle. You can't quite tell: is it a city, is it a suburb, is the forest growing back? Jonathan Raban backcitycompletely share on social
Lincoln, steeped in the Bible and Shakespeare, set an impossibly high bar for presidential prose. Jonathan Raban barbiblehigh Change image and share on social
Because Washington state now votes by mail, elections here tend to play out, at an agonizingly slow speed, over many days and, sometimes, weeks. Jonathan Raban agonizinglydayelection Change image and share on social
No president has come near to rivaling Lincoln as a writer. Jonathan Raban lincolnpresidentrivale Change image and share on social
Every White House has had its intellectuals, but very few presidents have been intellectuals themselves - Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Woodrow Wilson, the list more or less stops there. Jonathan Raban adamhouseintellectual Change image and share on social
'Dreams From My Father' reveals more about Obama than is usually known about political leaders until after they're dead. Perhaps more than it intends, it shows his mind working, in real time, sentence by sentence, in what feels like a private audience with the reader. Jonathan Raban audiencedeaddream share on social
The trouble with ghostwriting is that it raises the issue of whether the president is in a state of diminished responsibility for what he says. Does he actually grasp the implications of the words he speaks? Jonathan Raban diminishghostwritegrasp share on social
Seattle is this curious liberal 'island.' Jonathan Raban curiousislandliberal Change image and share on social
'Rage' is the word that most often attaches itself to the Tea Party movement, and it's true that, from the outside looking in, their public demonstrations appear to be more enraged than any political events in America since the race riots and anti-war protests of the 1960s. Jonathan Raban 1960samericaanti share on social
