From Literary Review, Austenmania: A review of Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World by Claire Harman. From The Guardian, from Virgil to, most recently, Roland Barthes, dead authors have had their works published against their wishes — is it right?; and the Situationist arch-rebel Guy Debord has finally been recognised as a "national treasure" in France — but would he have appreciated it? From Slate, were there sex shops in the time of George Washington? No, but there were plenty of brothels; and global motherf*ckers: Does every culture use the suggestion of maternal incest as an insult? Asymmetrical information and hooker-nomics: Assigning a price to a product is always tricky, but what if the product is illegal and the value subjective? From "Ideas", ready, aim, fail: Why setting goals can backfire; and good as gold: What alchemists got right. "American Idol", post-Heidegger: A review of the film "Examined Life". A review of Richard Seymour's The Liberal Defence Of Murder. Are successful people primarily the beneficiaries of luck, timing and cultural legacy? Michael Shermer investigates. From Political Theology, a review of books on ethics and economics. The Mighty Hand: Have you ever noticed how we never find out how our common social problems get solved? An excerpt from The Rape of Mesopotamia: Behind the Looting of the Iraq Museum by Lawrence Rothfield.
