PANTHEON

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Imagine going 180 feet in the air, then a 95-degree plummet, five airtime hills, two inversions, and four launches. That describes the new record-breaking rollercoaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. It is called Pantheon, and it is the world’s fastest multi-launch roller coaster.

Just days after the banning of “Maus” by a Tennessee school district made national news, two editions of Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize winning graphic story about the Holocaust have reached the top 20 on Amazon.

A Tennessee school district has voted to ban a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust due to “inappropriate language” and an illustration of a nude woman.

France is inducting U.S.-born entertainer, anti-Nazi spy and civil rights activist Josephine Baker into the Pantheon, the first Black woman to receive the nation’s highest honor.

On the surface, it’s a powerful message against racism: a Black woman will, for the first time, join other luminaries interred in France’s Pantheon. While Baker is widely appreciated in France, the decision has highlighted the divide between the country's official doctrine of colorblind universalism and some increasingly vocal opponents, who argue that it has masked generations of systemic racism. Baker’s entry into the Pantheon on Tuesday is the result of years of efforts from politicians, organizations and public figures.

France is inducting Josephine Baker — Missouri-born cabaret dancer, French World War II spy and civil rights activist — into its Pantheon, the first Black woman honored in the final resting place of France’s most revered luminaries. On Tuesday, a coffin carrying soils from the U.S., France and Monaco — places where Baker made her mark — will be deposited inside the domed Pantheon monument overlooking the Left Bank of Paris.

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French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a ceremony to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic, at the Pantheon monument, Friday Sept.4. Speaking at a ceremony Friday celebrating Frances democratic history and naturalizing new citizens, the French president said, You dont choose one part of France. You choose France....The Republic will never allow any separatist adventure.Freedom in France, Macron said, includes the freedom to believe or not to believe. Macrons centrist government has promised a law in the coming months against Islamic separatism but it is not clear yet exactly what it would police. Some critics fear it could unfairly stigmatize Frances largely moderate Muslim population, the largest in western Europe.

NEW YORK The head of the organization which presents the National Book Awards is joining the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation since 2016, has been named senior vice president of the Knopf imprints Pantheon and Schocken Books. We just had this really organic conversation about careers and the book world and what I was I good at and what I was interested in. She will remain with the book foundation through the end of the year, and will again oversee the awards ceremony, to be held online because of the coronavirus. We are deeply grateful for Lisas years of leadership at the National Book Foundation, David Steinberger, chair of the foundations board of directors, said in a statement.