Born in Savannah to a distinguished and well-to-do Jewish family, Gratz Cohen avoided military service when the Civil War broke out, but eventually loyalty to his state got the better of him and he enlisted—only to fall in battle in the final weeks of the war. Cohen was also, Richard Kreitner writes, “the first Jewish student at the University of Virginia, a sensitive poet,” and “apparently gay.” Kreitner reviews Liberty Street, a biography of this compelling figure by Jason K. Friedman:

Liberty Street is an unusual book. Though published by the University of South Carolina Press, the author is not an academic, and it’s not a scholarly text but rather a combination of memoir, travelogue, and amateur historical exhumation. Wherever the record comes up short, Friedman glides into a more novelistic mode. These transitions can be jarring—and the absence of citations or an index is sometimes frustrating—but the brazenly convention-defying mixture ends up serving the story well.

The centrality of Judaism in some of Gratz’s writings suggests he may indeed have followed debates over change and tradition, religion and modernity, even if his own early contributions to such debates were vague and unremarkable. He was far from the only 19th-century Jew to call for a reformation. However, Friedman also tells us almost offhandedly that “Jewish spirituality was the subject of the longest poem Gratz ever wrote,” comprising the final thirteen pages of his journal—although he gives us only seven lines of it.

For more than a year, the Iran-backed Houthis have been launching drones and missiles at ships traversing the Red Sea, as well as at Israeli territory, in support of Hamas. This development has drastically curtailed shipping through the Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, driving up trade prices. This week, the Trump administration began an extensive bombing campaign against the Houthis in an effort to reopen that crucial waterway. Burcu Ozcelik highlights another benefit of this action:

The administration has a broader geopolitical agenda—one that includes countering China’s economic leverage, particularly Beijing’s reliance on Iranian oil. By targeting the Houthis, the United States is not only safeguarding vital shipping lanes but also exerting pressure on the Iran-China energy nexus, a key component of Beijing’s strategic posture in the region.

China was the primary destination for up to 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports in 2024, underscoring the deepening economic ties between Beijing and Tehran despite U.S. sanctions. By helping fill Iranian coffers, China aids Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in financing proxies like the Houthis. Since October of last year, notable U.S. Treasury announcements have revealed covert links between China and the Houthis.

Striking the Houthis could trigger broader repercussions—not least by disrupting the flow of Iranian oil to China. While difficult to confirm, it is conceivable and has been reported, that the Houthis may have received financial or other forms of compensation from China (such as Chinese-made military components) in exchange for allowing freedom of passage for China-affiliated vessels in the Red Sea.