Dear friend,
Welcome back.
Four stories to cover this month: The Basement at St. Mary’s, The Cell at Auschwitz, The Room at the Hospital, and The Room in Lima. New Haven in 1881. Auschwitz in 1941. Santiago in 1952. Lima in 1617. A wider geographic sweep than any month so far, and a heavier one - three of the four are stories of men who died fairly quickly after their appearance in the story, and one is set in a Nazi camp on the eve of a phenol injection. I want to say at the start that I’m aware this has been a heavy month, and to name something about the pattern I’ve been falling into. I’ll come to that at the end.
What follows is the back-room work: notes on what I cut from each of August’s stories, what surprised me while writing them, the historical sources behind each, and a couple of theological arguments that emerged this month. It runs about 2,800 words. Paid subscribers can read on. The Friday stories will always be free - this is the conversation around them, for those who want to sit in the back room. If you’d like to join us, you can upgrade below.