THIS WEEK’S ARCHIVE PICK

Letter from Belfast: City of Walls

By Robin Kirk

Green, white, and orange: the Irish tricolor symbolizes the peaceful (and idealistic) union of Catholics and Protestants under one banner. But more than a century after the flag was adopted, rifts remain between the two factions. The Twelfth of July—also known as Orangemen’s Day—marks the anniversary of the 1690 Battle of the Boyne, which Protestants in Northern Ireland celebrate each year with parades and towering bonfires. How, and why, do longstanding divisions like this manifest in the 21st century? As Robin Kirk wrote in our Summer 2011 issue, “It’s a question not of religious doctrine but of belonging—your people versus mine.”

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The Bonanza King

By Gregory Crouch

Gregory Crouch’s biography of John William Mackay, the 19th-century silver mine magnate