Mary Duffy

Voltaire wrote 50 plays, dozens of treatises on science, politics and philosophy. He was also a historian, penning several books of history on the Russian Empire and the French Parliament. He also had the itch to write poetry. He left a voluminous correspondence of about 20,000 letters to friends and other correspondents. A veritable literary monster. Although Candide departs from normal...

These short stories offer a rare view into the lives of daring characters that walk the streets of the upper East Side of Manhattan. East of Tiffany's Daring Dudes shows actors, warriors, cops, and executives on their way to the cusp of success, both material and spiritual success. And happiness. That is why in the book's title I call them winners. They never give up on their set goals. And...

While volumes of criticism and book reviews fill library shelves on The Great Gatsby, nowhere have I read any allusions to the fact that the key players in the story are of low morals and intelligence—or to be charitable: mediocre. Daisy Buchanan is weak and of low moral standards, yet nowhere do I see that this character is "slow." Yet there's abundant evidence that the narrator intended to...

Many are the philosophers who have proposed ideas, explanations, and solutions to the riddles of the universe. Few are the ones who have left us definitive answers. I have chosen six philosophers because their ideas are so daring and well argued that remain unrefuted despite the attempts by lesser luminaries of philosophy. Given the resonant and authoritative voices of Descartes, Spinoza, Kant...