From Vanity Fair, what led Iceland, a tiny fishing nation, population 300,000, to decide, around 2003, to re-invent itself as a global financial power? Michael Lewis wants to know; the five hotshots who took Fortress Investment Group public were worth billions at first — today they look like arrogant showboats; Mark Seal gets behind Bernie Madoff’s affable facade, to reveal his most intimate betrayals (and more); and David Kamp on rethinking the American Dream. Battling Obama by "going Galt": Conservatives look to Atlas Shrugged for answers to Keynesian policies (and more). An interview with Slavoj Zizek. Save the GOP crocodile tears: Rahm Emanuel's role in the current Limbaugh fiasco is no more calculating than any standard-issue campaign tactic. David Frum on why Rush is wrong: A conservative's lament; and Yuval Levin on the Republicans’ road back. The Nation remembers V.G. Kiernan, a historian of the left, an ideological warrior against empire. A review of Planet Google by Randall Stross and What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis (more and more and more and more; and more from Bookforum). From Evolutionary Psychology, a review of Judaism in Biological Perspective: Biblical Lore and Judaic Practices. Read a book, get out of jail: What happens when convicted felons are sentenced to a book club instead of prison?