Plus …

Inventing America: On the two hundredth anniversary of the patent system, Oliver Alien surveys how it has, in Abraham Lincoln’s words, “added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius” … an interview with the maker of a superb Civil War documentary that will go on the air in September … visiting colonial Delaware … John Eberson, the architect showman who plundered every historical era to trick out the most exuberant movie theaters ever built … Mark Twain writes home … and, to give flavor to the waning days of summer, more.