From Big Think, Tom Perrotta on the state of American literary culture. Where are today's farmer poets? Farming has changed beyond all recognition since the days of "poets of the land" Robert Burns and John Clare. Can poets do themselves justice? Philip Larkin reads his own poetry beautifully, but not all poets have that ability. All a-Twitter: You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wonder why — all in 140 characters. More on Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations by Raymond Fisman and Edward Miguel. An interview with Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief of reason.com. From The Space Review, an article on planetary demographics and space colonization. From Slate, a continuing series on revolting creatures: The tick, the jellyfish, vultures. Hip-hop from pop charts to politics: Is hip-hop’s mainstream success hindering its political future? The art of the withdrawal: Learning from Daschle, Richardson, Kennedy, and Killefer the right and wrong way to bow out. A review of Critique and Disclosure: Critical Theory between Past and Future by Nikolas Kompridis. A review of The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 by Chris Wickham. An excerpt from Mark Leonard’s What Does China Think? Laura Bush was pro-choice — and dozens of other things you never knew about America's First Ladies.
