Jaws at 50:
How a 1975 Blockbuster Changed the Movies, and the Beach

| Published August 5, 2025 |

By R. Alan Clanton,
Thursday Review editor

Five summers before we founded Thursday Review on his drawing table, I went with best friend John Herndon to the opening showing of Jaws in our hometown of Jacksonville, Florida. We were among the first to arrive that day, having staked out our parking space and a place in line...(click to read more)

A Cathedral of the American Political Gothic

| Published November 19, 2025 |

By R. Alan Clanton,
Thursday Review editor

This is sort of a travel review, but it is also a book review. Let me explain. First, Baton Rouge was not on my travel bucket list. Being the sort of geek who loves lists, I have a travel bucket list, and it includes scores of places I'd llike to visit. But Baton Rouge was not necessarily on that....(click to read more)

When Time Travel Was Fun:
Back to the Future at 40

| Published December 9, 2025 |

By R. Alan Clanton,
Thursday Review editor

The Brat Pack was a big deal in 1985, so big that it spilled over into two dozen movies even as its ranks had grown to invlude an ever-expanding galazy of under-30 stars. At the time, some of those younger actors would have balked at being considered Brat Packers, while others famously embraced the label, and still others...(click to read more)

Robert Redford: A Look at a Life & Legacy

| Published September 20, 2025 |

By R. Alan Clanton,
Thursday Review editor

Like some high achievers of his generation, Robert Redford had multiple phases to his life. There was the young hooligan growing up in Van Nuys, California, a teenager who strongly considered baseball as a career and a path to salvation. There was the art student turned stage and set designer who took a sharp turn into television acting, landing him...(click to read more)

Cooking, Poetry, Fiction, Adventure, Business, Mourning & More: Fun Books by TR Writers

| Published July 20, 2025 |

For those among our online followers looking to enhance their summer and fall reading lists (or get a head start on those holiday gifts) consider the great range of styles and subjects found among those writers who frequent the pages of Thursday Review. The stack of books shown here is a sampling of...(click to read more)

How to Build a Healthier Burger

| Published October 31, 2025 |

By Maggie Nichols,
Thursday Review contributor

As Thursday Review's frequent food and dining contributor Michael Sigler points out in his book excerpt The Great American Hamburger, the typical burger is a staple in the U.S. diet, especially when it comes to cookouts and convenience....(click to read more)

Ready Player One; Ernest Cline

| Published April 24, 2016 |

Ready Player One is the most incredible collection of 1980s pop culture references ever assembled into a sci-fi novel about video games. Okay, it's probably the only such novel out there (for the time being, at least). But all jokes aside, this book by Ernest Cline is fantastic. Cline weaves a thrilling story replete with action, adventure, romance, and intrigue. When most people read/review this book...(click to read more)

Reflections on the Passing of Tom Wolfe

| Published May 18, 2018 |

By R. Alan Clanton,
Thursday Review editor

At the typewriter, he truly had the right stuff. Tom Wolfe, one of the 20th century's undeniably great writers, has died at the age of 88. The late editor William F. Buckley, Jr., himself a prolific...(click to read more)