Dead Reckoning: Transatlantic Passages on Europe and America

A poet and essayist attempt to find their bearings in a civilization lost at sea.

Dead reckoning is the nautical term for calculating a ship's position using the distance and direction traveled rather than instruments or astronomical observation. For those still recovering from the atrocities of the twentieth century, however, the term has an even grimmer meaning: toting up the butcher's bill of war and genocide.

As its title suggests, Dead Reckoning is an attempt to find our bearings in a ci...