The Leopard is a classic novel, or novella, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. It tells a tale of Sicily in the middle of the 19th century, during the Risorgimento. In 1963, Luchino Visconti made a movie of it. More recently, Michael Dellaira (composer) and J. D. McClatchy (librettist) made an opera of it. (I wrote about the opera three years ago, here.) Now, Tom Shankland has directed a mini-series for Netflix. Magnificent thing. I have written about it for the homepage today: here.

Now let’s get into some mail.

In a column, I wrote about Darryl Cooper, a “popular historian” who has “revisionist” views about the Holocaust and World War II. (Churchill was the “chief villain” of that war, etc.) Cooper has been afforded some major platforms of late, including Joe Rogan’s podcast. I said,

Thanks to friendly media, Darryl Cooper reaches tens of millions of people. I think of real historians, real scholars of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust: Raul Hilberg, Lucy Dawidowicz, Sir Martin Gilbert, et al. How many people do they reach?

A reader writes,

At your mention of Lucy Dawidowicz this week, I thought back to my twenties when I read The War Against the Jews. It was one of my life’s significant emotional events, one of the great lessons that I shared with my six children. I wish high-school seniors or maybe college freshmen were required to read it (as we had to read A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, in junior high). We’d be much more united in not countenancing antisemitism.

A quick aside: I have never read A Separate Peace. Maybe I should.

Last week, I wrote about President Trump’s move to eliminate the U.S. broadcasting services: “Radios and Lifelines.” I heard from Nicholas Dujmovic (who has also published under the name “Charles E. Lathrop”). He says,

I have a soft spot in my heart for Radio Free Europe, since my dad escaped from Communist Yugoslavia. As a kid, I remember the RFE ads. In grad school, one of my professors was William Griffith, political adviser to RFE in the ’50s. As a CIA historian, I worked with Ross Johnson, former RFE director. I have always been proud of the fact that RFE was one of CIA’s earliest covert actions and it was probably the longest running and most successful. I quoted Lech Walesa in my book The Literary Spy.

Here is that quotation:

When a democratic opposition emerged in Poland, RFE accompanied us every step of the way — during the explosion of August 1980, the unhappy days of December 1981, and all the subsequent months of our struggle. It was our radio station. But not only a radio station. Presenting works that were on the ‘red censorship list’, it was our ministry of culture. Exposing absurd economic policies, it was our ministry of economics. Reacting to events promptly and pertinently, it was our ministry of information.

Says Mr. Dujmovic, “Abolishing it is the work of barbarians.”

Last month, Alan Simpson, the Wyoming Republican, died at 93. I wrote about him in a piece called “The Notable Senator Simpson.” (He was quotable too — very.) Here is a note from Terry Lavin:

Jay:

In 2002, I was eating at the bar of an Italian restaurant around the corner on 55th & Third. [This is New York.] I noticed Senator Simpson eating with Senator Paul Simon (bow tie firmly affixed).

Being an amateur cartoonist, I drew a quick political cartoon (nothing clever, just caricatures of Simpson and Simon pointing to the Capitol with a caption, “Damn amateurs” — I’ve long forgotten what childish donnybrook was happening at the time).

They invited me to sit down with them. It was a real treat. I had worked in the press office of Bush 41’s reelection campaign. They were such gentlemen, and an absolute pleasure to speak with.

Simpson sent Mr. Lavin this:

Finally, baseball. I published a letter that hailed Opening Day and that also related a story about Denny McClain and the Detroit Tigers. Over my post was a photo of McClain, delivering.

A reader writes,

Jay,

Just read your Corner post — saw the photo at the top and I needed no caption to know it was Denny McClain — that leg kick is so distinctive. When I was a kid, I used to pull the brim of my cap down close to my eyes to try and look like him.

I sometimes wonder if there shouldn’t be a wing in the Hall of Fame for those who burn very brightly, but briefly. McClain had dominant years, then had arm troubles and was pretty mediocre for a few more. Makes you wonder what his career might have been with modern surgical techniques — or how some modern careers would look had they taken place back in the ’60s. Justin Verlander probably would have been done in 2014; Tarik Skubal never would have seen the big leagues.

Thanks for the memories. Hope the Tiges can reprise some of the old glory this year.

Me too! Thank you to one and all readers and correspondents.