The Two Faces of January The Two Faces of January The Two Faces of January (1964) is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith. Its title alludes to the two faces of the Roman god Janus, after whom the month of January was named. Biographer Andrew Wilson, in his 2003 publication "Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith" claims the title is 'appropriate for the janus-faced, flux-like nature of her protagonists'. Chester MacFarland is an alcoholic con artist traveling in Greece with his young wife, Colette. McFarland is wanted by the police back in the U.S. for running a Ponzi scheme. In Athens, a Greek
Ascent of the A-Word Ascent of the A-Word Ascent of the A-Word: Assholism, the First Sixty Years is a 2012 book by the American linguist Geoffrey Nunberg which analyzes the history of the epithet "asshole". In "Ascent", Nunberg traces to World War II the origins of the word as an epithet, when it was used as a term of abuse for superior officers considered abusive or self-important. Following the soldiers' return home from the war, the term spread to "movement radicals", and, by the 1970s, to everyday discourse as a replacement for "heel", "cad" and other milder insults. According to Nunberg, the Internet has