A new issue of Catapult is out. Jan Toporowski (SOAS): The Wisdom of Property and the Politics of the Middle Classes. From n+1, a review of Losing My Cool: How a Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture by Thomas Chatterton Williams; and a review of A Short History of Cahiers du Cinema by Emilie Bickerton and The French New Wave: Critical Landmarks. From Failure, an interview with Erik Wesner, author of Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive; and an interview with Peter H. Gleick, author of Bottled & Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession With Bottled Water. On Not Returning to Normal: A determination to go on exactly as before is an understandable human response to attack, but it's not the best one. From The Exiled, Ramon Glazov on how Christopher Hitchens robbed Hunter S. Thompson’s grave. Seeing the pet rock as it exists today, we’ve all asked ourselves this controversial and scientifically unproven question: how does a rock become a pet rock? Retiring later is hard road for laborers: A report found one in three older workers has a physically demanding job, complicating a Social Security overhaul. A panel on Ian Bremmer's The End of the Free Market. There goes the neighborhood: Jonathan V. Last on rage against the "breeders". Where have all the monologues gone? Once, all that stood between you and the part you wanted was the right monologue.
From Bookforum's Paper Trail blog, Chris Lehmann chats about his new book Rich People Things: "If you endorse the idea that a great many of our life outcomes are severely delimited by economic forces far over our heads, you’re going up against the sturdy Horatio Alger myth holding that infinite opportunity awaits every plucky self-made individual doggedly pursuing the main chance."
