Habsburg-maxxing: What an inbred Spanish king taught me about our cultural literacy crisis

There’s a famous episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” I often think about these days. Entitled “Darmok,” it finds Captain Picard stranded on a planet with only an alien named Dathon for company. Naturally, they don’t speak each other’s language. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, thanks to Picard’s 24th-century computer translator. Except that Dathon is a Tamarian, a people whose language is entirely metaphorical and based on stories and cultural allusions you have to be Tamarian to get....