Peter Evans (Brown) and Evelyne Huber and John D. Stephens (UNC): The Political Foundations of State Effectiveness. I. Glenn Cohen (Harvard): Are All Abortions Equal? Should There Be Exceptions to the Criminalization of Abortion for Rape and Incest? From The Nation, are these two “culture wars” issues really that similar? Katha Pollitt on how there’s a reason gay marriage is winning, while abortion rights are losing. From TNR, Jeet Heer on acting without thinking: The most effective protest movements have been enriched by debating ideas and strategy; and why, considering the magazine’s history of a white gaze and a white audience, did Michael Eric Dyson’s essay about Cornel West appear in The New Republic? Jamil Smith explains. What’s behind Michael Dyson’s over the top take down of Cornel West? The “on the spot turns of thought” in spoken presentations are very, very real — the key is that they should be written down soon as possible and then examined with an astringent bullshit detector before putting them into something approximating scholarship. Clyde Haberman on the snake that’s eating Florida. Parul Sehgal on how “flawless” became a feminist declaration. The nerd hunter: The casting director Allison Jones is reshaping American comedy, one misfit at a time. Spencer Ackerman goes inside Obama's drone panopticon — a secret machine with no accountability.
