NICOLAS NABOKOV, by Vincent Giroud (Oxford). From 1951 to 1966, the composer Nicolas Nabokov (a cousin of Vladimir) ran the Congress for Cultural Freedom, an organization founded to promote Western cultural achievements as an anti-Communist bulwark. It was funded largely by the C.I.A., and, though Nabokov pleaded ignorance, his reputation never recovered. This extensively researched biography seeks to recognize the importance of Nabokov’s accomplishments both at the congress and as a composer of lush, neo-Romantic music. Giroud paints a vivid portrait of Nabokov, a dispossessed Russian aristocrat and charming raconteur who wrote music for the Ballets Russes, helped de-Nazify Germany, and kept company with James Joyce, Igor Stravinsky, and Isaiah Berlin. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/24/briefly-noted-nagasaki