archive

The possibility of disinterested action

From the latest issue of The Point, Jon Baskin reads Granta’s Chicago Issue, Or: Literature as Tourism; a review of Renzo Piano’s Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago; and a look at how the fall of 2009 saw something of an apotheosis for Chicago theater. From NYRB, Charles Rosen on Isaiah Berlin's civilized malice. Oath Keepers and the Age of Treason: Meet the fast-growing "patriot" group that's recruiting soldiers to resist the Obama administration. From Vice, an interview with Dolly Freed, author of Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and With (Almost) No Money. The possibility of disinterested action: A review of Le desinteressement: Traite critique de l'homme economique by Jon Elster. A review of The Denzel Principle: Why Black Women Can’t Find Good Black Men by Jimi Izrael. From NYRB, an article on “Kibbutz”, a part of a continuing series of memoirs by Tony Judt. An article on the search for the Great Jewish Magazine: Is it even worth looking? In February, mailboxes across the country will receive the launch issue of The Jewish Review of Books, a new print journal (and an interview with editor Abraham Socher). It seems sometimes as if The Observer has been in a more or less permanent state of relaunch; despite being around since 1791, it now regularly lurches from crisis to crisis. Is your eco-label lying?: Sure, it says it's green, but what's that really mean? While those who stained America's honor with war crimes have escaped accountability for now, these American takfiris will eventually be judged by history with a clarity we cannot muster today.