From Gothamist, an interview with The New Yorker writer George Packer. Ian Buruma on the politics of resentment: Attacking elites for appeasing Islam has become a right-wing staple. The search for a fight: A look at how Google works to torpedo Microsoft bid for Yahoo (and more and more from Wired). From Edge, a conversation between Craig Venter and Richard Dawkins on Life: A gene-centric view. Cloning deserves a fair hearing, one in which impassioned language yields the floor to responsible discourse. More on John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand by Richard Reeves. Historians think Hurricane Katrina may have been a turning point for America — Scott McLemee isn’t swept away.  An article on the Democrats' choice: manager or visionary; and a look at the Democrats’ color scheme: It's black and green vs. brown and gray. The introduction to Disrupting Science: Social Movements, American Scientists, and the Politics of the Military, 1945-1975 by Kelly Moore. More and more on The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Weisberg. Check out the NBCC's Good Reads, Winter List. Know your Right-wing speakers: The Coors family has been supporting conservative causes for decades. Alex de Waal on making sense of Chad. From Commentary, Terry Teachout on the Hollywood musical done right. It ain't the economy, stupid: Why no president can control our $14 trillion engine.

From The New Yorker, Seymour M. Hersh on Israel’s unexplained bombing of Syria. When war seems unwinnable: Stanley Karnow on why Tet matters. From Der Spiegel, an article on the Fuhrer myth: How Hitler won over the German people; and from "Anschluss" to "Zyklon B", a new dictionary highlights Nazi words to avoid. From Habitus, here's a recently-translated interview with Jorge Luis Borges (1984). From Skeptic, an article on the myth of the Mozart effect. Maya Angelou on why her great grandmother's name matters: Turns out she wasn't just steel and resolve. From Wired, an article on the life cycle of a blog post, from servers to spiders to suits — to you. More and more on The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr. A review of The Female Thing: Dirt, Envy, Sex, Vulnerability by Laura Kipnis. Answers Research Journal is a new peer-reviewed creation science journal. From The New Yorker, John Updike on the novels of Flann O’Brien. Where each of the Democratic candidates might leave the country ideologically could ultimately be the most lasting determinant of the success of the next presidency. George Lakoff on why personality matters. The introduction to Our Underachieving Colleges by Derek Bok. After years of trial and error, Michael Currie says he has a way to bring angry teenage boys back to civility - - gently.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Paul Kennedy on The Imperial Mind: A historian’s education in the ways of empire. A review of books on global governance — to Strobe Talbott, it's inevitable; to John Bolton, it's surrender.  A review of The Final Arbiter: The Consequences of Bush v. Gore for Law and Politics. A review of The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse by Richard Thompson Ford (and more). From Seed, Will Self and Spencer Wells meet up to talk about place, identity, and what it means to be human. From Scientific American, an article on why we kiss.  From Newton to Einstein and beyond: Why strings? Where did the idea come from and why do we need such a theory? An equation-free introduction for beginners. Is religion losing the millennial generation? A review of Violence by Slavoj Zizek. More and more on 30,000 Years of Art. From TLS, a review of Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature; and a review of James Wood's How Fiction Works (and more). The Lessons of the Weather Underground: Former student radical Mark Rudd explains where he went wrong—and how young people today can learn from his mistakes. Speaking in tongues: South-East Asia's language wars continue. Public Intellectuals, Inc: It’s time to use the term "corporate intellectuals" to reflect the realities of the way the public engages with thinkers and their ideas.