"Historic quarters in cities and towns across the middle of Europe were devastated during the Second World War--some, like those of Warsaw and Frankfurt, had to be rebuilt almost completely. They are now centers of peace and civility that attract millions of tourists, but the stories they tell about places, peoples, and nations are selective. They are never the whole story. These old towns and their turbulent histories have been key sites in Europe's...

"Erica Donato, PhD, a curator at the Brooklyn Museum, is thrilled to meet Louisa Gibbs, a preservation icon, now an octogenarian. Louisa's home abuts against the property of the Jehovah's Witnesses' homebase, nicknamed "The Watchtower." As one of the biggest property holders in Brooklyn Heights, the Jehovah's Witnesses have been developing the neighborhood, slowly taking it over, one house at a time. Louisa is concerned that she's been receiving threats...