The Known World is engrossing, enlightening and altogether enjoyable.

*This phrase is used extensively as a euphemism for slavery, notably in the speeches and writings of John C. Calhoun: Nullification, Secession, and John Caldwell Calhoun: The Philosophy and Thought Which Led a State and John C. Calhoun: Speech on the Reception of Abolition Petitions. In neither quote of John C. Calhoun's words is the phrase set in quotations, but he does seem to expect that peculiar institution and peculiar domestic institution will be understood to mean slavery, so he may have been quoting someone before him. Maybe it's as simple as a popular politician, John C. Calhoun, using the phrase "this peculiar institution" with its general meaning applied to the specific "peculiar institution", and the specific meaning subsequently infecting the general as a meme that found fertile ground.

Jane Chord: Evening yet.