Mikko Railas Railas itibaren Kirazalan Köyü, 08890 Kirazalan Köyü/Yusufeli/Artvin, Turki
I heard Polkinghorne interviewed and was impressed by his reasonableness, if not by his theism. Likewise with this book, I didn't care much for (or even about) his arguments for the reasonableness of theism, except as they helped me to understand his "critical realist" epistemological stance on both science and religion. If you're wondering what a critical realist scientist believes about the status of scientific knowledge and method, chapter 5 here is a great summary.
"Wench" refers to a white slaveholder's black mistress, a slave with certain privileges and certain sexual duties. I hadn't realized this phenomenon existed so pervasively, nor that white slaveholders routinely brought their wenches to summer in Ohio (at the sight of what is now Wilburforce University). To me, the most interesting part of the book was what the balance of power in these "love triangles," if you can call them that, had to say about romantic relationships more generally, whether ugly divorces, extramarial affairs, or healthy marriages. It was a breezy read, at some points because the author skipped over actually telling the story and only recounted key elements after they'd happened. She did this at several crucial, emotional junctures in the book that I felt left the reader without the necessary connection to the characters. But the story kept me turning the pages to the end, and it enlightened Ohio history and geography in a new way.