Dying for a mirage: ­ Yesterday I saw Ellen McLaughlin’s play “Helen,” based on Euripides’ play of the same name…  Just like in real life, the bloodiest wars are fought for things that exist only in men’s minds: “eternal Israel,” “free Palestine,” “jihad,” “Tamil homeland,” “Aryan supremacy,” “the American way of life,” etc. Pretty perceptive, that Euripides. I hope he writes some more. 2002.03.24

A new, expanded e-book edition of the book that The New York Times Book Review described as a “frequently powerful collection of short stories” of Latin America that “leaves us thoroughly wrung out — and aware that we are in the presence of a formidable new writer.”